Quick facts about specific databases used in Physical Therapy research.
MEDLINE Complete
- U.S. National Library Medicine’s bibliographic database
- Millions of journal articles, including randomized controlled trials and systematic reviews, in the life sciences with a focus on biomedicine
- Searching:
- Boolean: AND, OR, NOT
- Phrase Searching
- Truncation
- MeSH Thesaurus for subject terms
![Screenshot of Advanced Search in MEDLINE Complete](https://libapps.s3.amazonaws.com/accounts/185856/images/MEDLINE_advanced_search.png)
PubMed
- Access through library databases (will have Check for full text @ TX State option for articles)
- Can also access the public version online – PubMed public access (will not have the option to check for full text at TX State)
- Narrow results to specific types of Evidence-Based Research (e.g. clinical trial, meta-analysis, randomized controlled trial, systematic review)
- Article Record:
- MeSH terms for article listed at bottom of page.
- Includes Similar articles
- Scroll down to bottom of article record to see list
- Includes “Cited by” articles that have cited the article
- Scroll down to bottom of article record to see list
- Searching:
- Don’t use Boolean operator AND (database assumes the terms are connected by AND) or punctuation
- If used, they disable PubMed’s automatic term mapping feature which maps keyword searches to MeSH terms.
![Basic search in the database PubMed for stroke treadmill walk](https://libapps.s3.amazonaws.com/accounts/185856/images/PubMed_Basic_Search.png)
Cochrane Library
- Collection of evidence-based medicine databases, including but not limited to:
- Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR) – top resource for systematic reviews
- Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials –randomized and quasi-randomized controlled trials
- Systematic reviews mainly focus on interventions
- Searching:
- On search interface, click on Advanced Search
- Use Boolean (AND, OR, NOT), phrase searching, truncation
- After typing in search terms, if you click “Send to search manager” the database will list the search and number of results
- Look up MeSH terms by click the “Medical terms (MeSH) tab and searching for term.
- Limit search results (Content type, publication date, etc…) by clicking on “Search limits.”
![Screenshot of Advanced Search in database Cochrane Library for stroke or cerebral vascular accident and treadmill and walk](https://libapps.s3.amazonaws.com/accounts/185856/images/Cochrane_Advanced_Search.png)
PEDro
- Provided by the University of Sydney
- Open Access database – freely available on the Internet
- Contains randomized trials, systematic reviews, and clinical practice guidelines specific to physical therapy
- main focus is interventions
- Searching:
- Simple Search: allows phrase searching and truncation; No Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT)
- Advanced Search: Combination of search boxes and dropdowns
- Results list cannot be filtered or limited
![Screenshot of Simple Search in the database PEDro for stroke treadmill walk*](https://libapps.s3.amazonaws.com/accounts/185856/images/PEDro_Simple_Search_example.png)