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liveira
ibrary
Get started: searching for journal literature with HDAS
What is HDAS for? Use Healthcare Databases Advanced Search (HDAS) to
search for journal material to answer a specific healthcare-related question.
What are the databases?
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eight available - medical, nursing, AHP, management, psychology
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created by different organisations
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international journal literature
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databases draw on different but overlapping content
Athens password is required - see instructions on our web pages, or contact
the library if unsure how to register.
STEP 1 Begin searching the databases using HDAS:
Go to www.evidence.nhs.uk and choose the ‘Journals and databases’ tab.
Select Healthcare Databases Advanced Search and log in with Athens
password when prompted.
Choose the most
appropriate database for
your search
Tick the box by its name
NB you can only use
HDAS in one database at
a time
Click on the ‘Search’
button
The ‘Search and Limits’ window will then open.
STEP 2 Look at what’s on the search screen:
Tabs for saved searches
and alerts
Breadcrumb trail shows
where you are
Search tab to choose
main parameters
Limits tab - add date
ranges, age groups, etc.
Type search term
Field to be searched
Tick to look for subject
headings/thesaurus
Search initiation button
STEP 3 How to use natural language search terms:
Think carefully about alternative names or words for the concept required
Use inverted commas to search for exact phrase e.g. “health visitor”
Use asterisk (truncation symbol) to search by stem of word e.g. pregnan*
finds pregnant, pregnancy, pregnancies
Use OR to find variants or synonyms e.g. caries OR “tooth decay”
Check alternative forms e.g. searching for oestrogen will not identify papers
using the American form, estrogen
Enter your chosen words and click the Search button - a line will appear on
the screen, showing the term you entered and the number of hits returned
(usually a large number)
STEP 4 Consider using the thesaurus
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•
•
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allows you to search the ‘subject headings’ for your main concept
one subject heading collects up several synonyms into one search
defines subjects being searched for using scope notes
may identify new concepts which could be relevant to your search
STEP 5 Using the thesaurus: worked example using Medline:
Type in search term tooth decay, tick ‘Map to
Thesaurus’ box and click on Search.
List of subject headings is returned, including
Dental Caries, Fluorides, Pit and Fissure
Sealants.
Tick the Explode box for Dental Caries. This will
select all articles with the term, plus any articles
using the subheadings below this term.
Scope notes (where available) define the meaning of the subject heading
selected, and indicate other possibly related terms
Click Search button when a subject heading has been selected
Search line appears giving the number of hits for the subject heading.
STEP 6 Combining multiple concepts: worked example continued:
Add another concept in the same
way - in this case, pregnancy.
Line 3 of the search appears
returning 499 articles.
Tick lines 1 and 2 and combine
them with AND to select items
about tooth decay in pregnancy.
Click Apply Limits on line 3 to
reduce number of hits to
manageable level.
Choose Date option and enter 2008 - Current. Line 4 in the list of searches
shows 86 articles from those dates. You can add other limits too.
STEP 7 Select and export your results:
Click on the number of results (e.g., the number 86 in line 4 in the
illustration above) to see a list of titles. Click on ‘Show abstracts’ box to see
more detail. Blue links show access to full text, but the library can usually
obtain articles for you, so please request anything unavailable. Tick the box
next to each journal article to select those which are of interest.
Use the results manager box at the bottom of the results list to export your
selections - you can save a document, email the list to yourself or print them.
Searching the databases can be complex. The Oliveira Library offers search training
based on your own requirements, or we can undertake searches for IOW NHS staff.
Oliveira Library
Telephone 01983 534519
email [email protected]