Advanced Searching - Healthcare Databases
Some staff and learners need to carry out complex, robust and reproduceable searches including for systematic review and informing research. These advanced searches should be conducted in healthcare databases via the provider interfaces, and can be supported by your library service. Information on how to access and use these databases is linked below. For further support, contact your library
Databases contain references to journal articles, guidelines, manuscripts, dissertations and book chapters. The following databases can be accessed anywhere. An NHS OpenAthens username and password is required to access those databases marked with an asterisk(*).
Amed*– allied and complementary medicine including palliative care
Specialising in complementary or alternative medicine.
Access via Ovid
User Guide (nb. guide has been produced by Northern Care Alliance library service, but step 2 onwards is applicable to all)
BNI*– nursing, midwifery and community healthcare
Covering the UK's most popular nursing, midwifery and community health material.
Access via ProQuest
User Guide (nb. guide has been produced by Northern Care Alliance library service, but step 2 onwards is applicable to all)
CINAHL* nursing and allied health
Access to English language nursing journals as well as journals from allied health disciplines.
Access via EBSCO
Find your Institution: search for "Royal Devon" and select either Northern or Eastern depending on where your OpenAthens account is linked
User Guide (guide has been produced by Northern Care Alliance library service, but step 2 onwards is applicable to all)
Cochrane Library - high-quality, independent evidence to inform healthcare decision-making
Set of databases of high quality evidence on the effectiveness of healthcare interventions and treatments.
Embase*– biomedical and pharmaceutical literature
Information on drugs and pharmacology and all other aspects of human medicine and related disciplines.
Access via Ovid
User Guide (guide has been produced by Northern Care Alliance library service, but step 2 onwards is applicable to all)
Emcare* – nursing and allied health
Covers all nursing specialties and nursing healthcare professions. Emcare includes international coverage of allied health, education and training, development and management, midwifery, health and healthcare economics, clinical medical and healthcare social work, psychiatry and mental health, and traumatology, emergency and critical-care medicine.
Access via Ovid
User Guide (guide has been produced by Northern Care Alliance library service, but step 2 onwards is applicable to all)
HMIC* – healthcare management
Areas covered include health management and services, social care and NHS organisation and administration.
Access via Ovid
User Guide (guide has been produced by Northern Care Alliance library service, but step 2 onwards is applicable to all)
Medline* biomedical, life sciences, allied health and pre-clinical sciences literature
Covering all aspects of medicine including dentistry, veterinary medicine and medical psychology.
Access via Ovid or Knowledge and Library search Hub
User Guide (guide has been produced by Northern Care Alliance library service, but step 2 onwards is applicable to all)
PEDro - trials, reviews and guidelines evaluating physiotherapy interventions
PEDro has been informing physiotherapy practice for over 23 years. It is a free database of over 58,000 trials, reviews and guidelines evaluating physiotherapy interventions.
PsycInfo* – psychology, behavioural sciences and related disciplines
Covers psychology and psychological aspect of medicine, nursing, physiology and linguistics.
Access via ProQuest
User Guide (guide has been produced by Northern Care Alliance library service, but step 2 onwards is applicable to all)
PubMed - life sciences and biomedical
PubMed comprises more than 35 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. Citations may include links to full text content from PubMed Central and publisher web sites.
Covering all aspects of medicine including dentistry, veterinary medicine and medical psychology. A limited version of Medline, available to all.
PsycArticles* - psychology
This is a database of of full-text articles from journals published by the American Psychological Association, the APA Educational Publishing Foundation, the Canadian Psychological Association, and Hogrefe & Huber
Social Policy and Practice* – behavioural and social sciences, social work and public health
SPP brings together information from six of the UK’s leading collections of social policy and practice resources:
- Centre for Policy on Ageing
- Idox Information Service
- National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children
- Social Care Institute for Excellence
- Greater London Authority
- National Children’s Bureau