Activity 5: Using databases - Ovid group - Finding information for Health Economics

Activity 5: Using databases - Ovid group

EMBASE: Excerpta Medica (OVID) This link opens in a new window EMBASE, the Excerpta Medica database, produced by Elsevier Science, is a major biomedical and pharmaceutical database indexing over 3,500 international journals in the following fields: drug research, pharmacology, pharmaceutics, toxicology, clinical and experimental human medicine, health policy and management, public health, occupational health, environmental health, drug dependence and abuse, psychiatry, forensic medicine, and biomedical engineering/instrumentation. There is selective coverage for nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, psychology, and alternative medicine. EMBASE is one of the most widely used biomedical and pharmaceutical databases because of its currency and in-depth indexing. Frequent updates allow access to the latest medical and pharmacological trends. Approximately 375,000 records are added yearly.
Healthcare Management Information Consortium (HMIC) This link opens in a new window The Healthcare Management Information Consortium (HMIC) is an invaluable source of information for health care administrators and managers. The database is updated bi-monthly and contains essential information from two key institutions: the Library and Information Services of the Department of Health, England and the King's Fund Information and Library Service.
MEDLINE (Ovid) This link opens in a new window Produced by the National Library of Medicine in the USA, the MEDLINE database is widely recognized as the premier source for bibliographic and abstract coverage of biomedical literature. MEDLINE encompasses information from Index Medicus, Index to Dental Literature, and International Nursing, as well as other sources of coverage in the areas of allied health, biological and physical sciences, humanities and information science as they relate to medicine and health care, communication disorders, population biology, and reproductive biology. Please note that NLM data is also available via PubMed.
PsycINFO This link opens in a new window An index to the professional and academic literature on psychology and related disciplines including sociology and education from 1806 to the present. PsycInfo covers the professional and academic literature in psychology and related disciplines, including medicine, psychiatry, nursing, sociology, pharmacology, physiology and linguistics. Search hints: ISBNs are not searchable. An author search for 'Peters, Mike' will not pick up 'Peters, Mike K'. To include all possible middle initials in your results, search on 'Peters, Mike?'

Sample search on Embase: Panopto video (includes sub-titles).

Ovid overview

The Ovid platform has databases central to any effective literature search in medical and health subjects. All Ovid databases are listed on the initial menu page reached by selecting the database link from FindIt@Bham: select the required database and proceed.

NB: select one database only at a time. This enables full functions available.

Literature searching

For information and videos on these databases, see our Literature Searching guide, Ovid database activities:

Sample search using Ovid Medline

Cost-effectiveness of vaccination for Covid-19.

This includes the use of Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) as well as simple keyword searching.

MeSH are exploded to include any narrower headings nested within the broader terms
In the default Advanced Search screen, a keyword search will automatically direct the user towards possible MeSH unless the box 'Map term to subject heading' is un-ticked
MeSH definitions can be confirmed using the 'i' Scope note and by clicking directly on the term to show the subject tree or hierarchy of terms

Each line of search is carried out separately and connected after with OR for alternatives, then AND to narrow the search to find articles about all the included aspects, not just one aspect on its own.

Covid-19 - MeSH, exploded.
Costs and cost analysis - MeSH, exploded. (An alternative could be the narrower MeSH 'Cost-benefit analysis')
Immunization - MeSH, exploded. (An alternative could be the narrower MeSH 'Vaccination')
vaccin* - freetext keyword search: has broader coverage than MeSH
3 OR 4.
1 AND 2 AND 5

Limits: using 'Additional Limits', 'Systematic Reviews' was selected within 'Publication Types'.

Individual results, or sets of results, can be selected and exported, for example as an RIS file for upload into EndNote Online. Search histories can be saved for later re-running by using the Save All option: Register for an account on Ovid to enable this feature.