Why do a literature search?
Literature searches play a fundamental role in evidence-based practice, research and continuous improvement. HNELHD staff engage in many activities that require an effective search for relevant, high-quality literature, including
- Answering complex clinical queries for patient care
- Involvement in research projects
- Writing for publication
- Updating or developing clinical procedures or guidelines
- Preparing for a presentation or education session
- Planning service improvements
- Completing advanced training or fellowship projects
- Undertaking health technology assessments (HTAs)
Do you need support?
The Library offers a wide range of support for searching the literature, from webinars to online and face-to-face training for individuals and groups.
Useful resources
Medline Vs PubMed
It is important to be aware that the content in PubMed is not always high quality and includes papers that have not completed the peer-review process. We strongly recommend using Medline rather than PubMed for the following reasons
- PubMed will return more results than Medline because it includes ahead of print and non-peer-reviewed articles
- A full database search in PubMed creates automatic mappings that expand the focus of the search. Medline controls these mappings and therefore the scope of your search.
- PubMed includes PubMed Central papers which are full-text articles deposited to promote open access.
For support contact the Library or watch this PubMed overview.