New look PubMed

From today, PubMed has changed to a new format. All the features of PubMed are still there…….but in a different place.

From the home page, you still have the search box and you can also link to:
MeSH Database
Clinical Queries (for evidence-based filters)
Lots of Help – see Using PubMed

The Limits, History and Details features can now be found in Advanced Search. Here you will also find links to other resources such as the MeSH database or Clinical Queries.

Why not take this opportunity to catch up with PubMed features and take the tutorials? See http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/disted/pubmed.html

The web address (http://www.pubmed.gov/) remains the same, so any bookmarks you have set up won’t be affected. Any saved searches or alerts (My NCBI) won’t be affected by the changes.

Further details available from the NLM (producers of PubMed) at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbull/so09/so09_pm_redesign.html and
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbull/so09/so09_pm_now_redesign.html .

Searching PubMed & using subject headings

The previous posting dealt with checking how PubMed has interpreted the words you typed. A typical “translation” includes searching for those words (separately and as phrases) as well as a subject heading search.

But what are subject headings?

· Subject headings are added by indexers to the record when it is added to the database. The record describes the article: author, title, journal details, abstract and subject headings. The indexers read the article, identify the principal topics and add the standard subject headings to the record.

· They describe articles in a standardised way – eg, pressure sores, pressure ulcers, bed sores, bed ulcers are all described as decubitus ulcers

· Therefore a subject heading search for decubitus ulcers will pick up all the variations in the way the authors describe pressure sores, bed sores etc

· The words you type are translated into the appropriate subject heading. If you are unhappy with the subject heading, try a new search but describe the it in a different way

· PubMed explodes the subject heading: it searches for articles with the selected heading as well as articles with more specific headings on the same subject

· Click on the heading and you will see the tree (categories), which displays the narrower headings (more specific). For example, exploding Bereavement includes Grief in your search

· Use the MeSH Database in PubMed to carry out a subject heading search alone (ie excluding the word searches)


Use subject headings to:
· make your search more relevant – a subject heading will only be added if it is an important topic
· pick up the variations in describing the topic – the subject headings are standard
· gather narrower, related subjects into your search – when the subject heading is exploded

Be careful:
· In PubMed, the most recent articles don’t yet have subject headings, so you need to do word searches as well (default search)
· While subject headings are standardised, there can be differences in interpretation. For example, the topic “do not resuscitate” can be found with subject headings of “Resuscitation Orders”, “Refusal to Treat” and “ Withdrawal of Treatment”

More information on subject headings from the PubMed tutorial and the Information Seeking & Library Skills section on Moodle.

Do you know what PubMed is doing for you?

PubMed is an intuitive and sophisticated database. When you type in your keywords, it translates them into a complex search. You need to be sure that the system is interpreting them appropriately.


After each search, click on the DETAILS tab to find out.

You type deep vein thrombosis and PubMed translates it into the following searches:

Venous Thrombosis (MeSH – subject heading search)
OR
venous and thrombosis (searches for the words, but not necessarily together or in that order)
OR
“venous thrombosis” (searches for the phrase)
OR
deep and vein and thrombosis (searches for the words, but not necessarily together or in that order)
OR
“deep vein thrombosis” (search for the phrase)

Checking Details after each search allows you to keep track of the searches PubMed carries out on your behalf.

More information from PubMed or see the Information & Library Skills section on Moodle for lots of support material on searching PubMed.

PubMed - set up a MyNCBI account to organise your searches

Set up a personal account on PubMed. This will allow you to:

• Save searches
• Have results of regularly updated searches emailed to you
• Save items in personal collections

What to do:

• Go to MyNCBI and register for a new account
• When you are happy with your search strategy, save the search and request email updates
• Alternatively, when browsing through your search results, select items of interest by ticking the box beside the item number and choose Collections from the Send To menu
• You can add to one collections of items or set up several collections

More information from PubMed Help

Grainne