Searching the Health Science Education Literature

Mary Edwards, MLIS, EdD, AHIP10/19/2015

• Introduction• Database Coverage – What’s in the library databases• Practice Searches• Reflection• Google Scholar OR Library Databases?

Agenda

Before we get started…

• How do you currently search for medical education literature?

• What questions do you have about searching the medical education literature?

• What would you like to learn in this session?

Medical Education Literature in the Library Databases

Selecting which databases to start with…

Question: The libraries subscribe to hundreds of databases on a wide variety of topics…so how do you know which databases to start searching?

Selecting which databases to start with…

Answer: • It depends upon the topic. For many medical/health

science education topics PubMed is an excellent starting point, but ERIC covers many more education journals including those specific to medical education.

• If you’re looking at psychosocial aspects or for particular learning theories you’ll want to include PsycInfo.

Database Coverage

OR

What’s in the Relevant Library Databases

Database Relevant Topics Covered Material Types

PubMed

Basic Biomedical Science Research, Clinical Medicine, Rehabilitation, Health Education, Health Administration, Health Services, Nutrition, Delivery of Health Care, Pathology and Psychiatry, Medical/Health Science Education

Journal Articles (early 1900s to date)

ERIC (Education Resources Information Center)

Adult, Career, and Vocational Education, Counseling, Elementary and Early Childhood Education, Educational Management, Higher Education, Junior Colleges, Second-language Learning, Special Education, Teacher Education, Tests, Measurement, and Evaluation

Journal Articles, Conferences/Meetings, Government Documents, Theses, Dissertations, Reports, AV Media, Bibliographies, Directories, Books, and Monographs. (1966 to date)

Education Full Text & Education Index Retrospective

Adult Education, Continuing Education, Literacy standards, Multicultural/ethnic Education, Teaching Methods, etc.

Journal Articles, Books, Book Reviews, Yearbooks, and Directories

PsycINFO

Psychology (including Educational Psychology), Psychiatry, Mental Health, and related subjects.

Journal Articles, Dissertations, Technical Reports, Books, and Book Chapters (1887 to date)

Database Relevant Topics Covered Material Types

Health and Psychosocial Instruments(HaPI)

Includes access to 15,000 measurement instruments used in health and psychosocial settings.

Instruments, Questionnaires, Interview Schedules, Checklists, Coding Schemes, Rating Scales, etc. (1985 to date).

Mental Measurements Yearbook

Comprehensive overview of 2,700+ contemporary testing instruments in the fields of psychology, education, business, and leadership.

Testing instruments (1938 to date).

Web of Science

Science, Social Science, and Humanities. Includes “times cited” and “cited by” information.

Journal Articles, Book Chapters and Conference Proceedings (1900 to date).

So where to start for medical education topics…

ERIC indexes approximately 1174 journals in the discipline of Education • Approximately 32 journals are in the areas of medical or

health education• Medical educators may choose to publish in journals outside

the traditional medical education focused titles.• It’s okay (and sometimes necessary) to think broadly…Non

medical education research may be transferable/applicable to medical education settings…

So where to start for medical education topics…

PubMed indexes 5590 journals in a variety of areas relevant to basic and clinical medicine, rehabilitation, health administration, etc. • Approximately 100 journals are in the areas of medical

(including specialties) or health education • Not all relevant articles will be published in medical

education journals, some may be general education journals…

Example Searches

Example 1

• I am looking for articles about assessing learning outcomes in clinical environments

Concept: clinical teaching

Concept: assessing learning outcomes

Subject Heading (MeSH)

“Clinical Clerkship”[MeSh]“Internship and Residency”[MeSH]

Educational Measurement

ERIC Thesaurus Terms

Clinical Teaching

Clinical Experience

Educational AssessmentPerformance Based Assessment

Keywords “clinical teaching” “clinical instruction”“clinical experience”

assessment“learning assessment”“learning outcomes assessment”“outcomes assessment”

Example PubMed Strategy

(“Clinical Clerkship”[MeSH] OR “Internship and Residency”[MeSH] OR “clinical teaching” OR “clinical instruction”) AND (“Educational Measurement”[MeSH] OR “learning assessment” OR “learning outcomes assessment”)

Example ERIC Strategy

(Subject(“Clinical Teaching”) OR Subject(“Clinical Experience”) OR “clinical teaching” OR “clinical instruction”) AND (Subject(“Educational Assessment”) OR Subject(“Performance Based Assessment”))

Example 2

• What types of programs and courses are other schools implementing for interprofessional education and what are the outcomes?

Concept: Interprofessional Education

Concept: Outcomes

Subject Heading (MeSH)

“Cooperative Behavior”[MeSH]“Interdisciplinary Communication”[MeSH]“Interdisciplinary Studies”[MeSH]“Interprofessional Relations”[MeSH]“Education”[MeSH]

“Educational Measurement”[MeSH]Outcomes

ERIC Thesaurus Terms

Interprofessional RelationshipHealth EducationProfessional EducationCooperation

Educational OutcomesInstructional OutcomesLearner OutcomesEducational Assessment

Keywords “interprofessional education” Assessment, evaluation, outcomes

Example PubMed Strategy

(((“Interprofessional Relations”[Major] OR “Interdisciplinary Communication”[Major] OR “Cooperative Behavior”[MeSH]) AND “Education”[Mesh]) OR “interprofessional behavior”) AND (“Educational Measurement”[MeSH] OR outcome)

Example ERIC Strategy

(Subject(“Professional Education”) OR Subject(“Health Education”)) AND Subject(“Interprofessional Relationship”) OR (Subject(“Interdisciplinary Approach)) OR “interprofessional education”

Example 3

• I am looking for papers describing program administration, curricular development, and implementation for an online graduate certification program.

Concept: curriculum design

Concept: online learning

Concept: education model

Subject Heading (MeSH)

“Curriculum”[MeSH]

“Education, Distance”[MeSH]

“Models, Educational”[MeSH]“Curriculum/standards”[MeSH]

ERIC Thesaurus Terms

Curriculum Design

Curriculum Content

Online Learning

Distance Education

Model Programs

Keywords “curriculum design”“curricular design”

“distance education”“online learning”

“education models”“curriculum models”“model program*”

General Search Tips

• Phrase Searching– EXAMPLE: “online learning”

• Truncation – EXAMPLE: learn* for learners, learn, learning, etc.

• Subject Headings (MeSH and ERIC Thesaurus)• Use Synonyms• Combine keywords and subject headings

Useful MeSH Terms

What MeSH terms have you used in your education searches?• “Education, Medical”[MeSH]• “Education, Medical, Undergraduate”[MeSH]• “Education, Medical Graduate”[MeSH]• “Education, Medical, Continuing”[MeSH]

Useful MeSH Terms

• “Internship and Residency”[MeSH]• “Students, health occupations”[MeSH]• “Students, Pharmacy”[MeSH]• “Students, Nursing”[MeSH]• “Students, Dental”[MeSH]• “Students, Medical”[MeSH]

Useful MeSH Terms

• “Educational Measurement”[MeSH]• “Clinical Clerkship”[MeSH]• “Distance Education”[MeSH]• “Educational Technology”[MeSH]• “Curriculum”[MeSH]• Education Subheading. Example: “allied

health occupations/education”[MeSH]

Reflection

• How will you incorporate what you’ve learned into your future searching?

• What questions do you still have about searching for medical education literature?

Google Scholar

OR

library databases

Google scholar vs. databasesCan you…. Databa

sesGoogle Scholar

Limit searching to specific time periods?

Yes Yes

Search by formats? Yes NoSearch by topic or subject? Yes NoSearch by keyword? Yes YesSort results by date? Yes NoExport references to bibliographic software?

Yes Yes

Access available full text? Yes* Yes*

* Accessible Off-campus when logged into the UF VPN

Google scholar coverage is broad and multidisciplinary, but in many cases not as deep as the discipline specific library databases

But don’t take my word for it…several studies comparing coverage and/or evaluating completeness provide more information. See the next slide for a few references…

Breadth vs. depth

Comparative studiesFalaga, M. E. et al. (2008). Comparison of PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and

Google Scholar: Strengths and Weaknesses. Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, 22(2), 338-342.

Haddaway, N.R. et al. (2015). The Role of Google Scholar in Evidence Reviews and Its Applicability to Grey Literature Searching. PLoS One. 10(9):e0138237.

Nourbakhsh, E. et al. (2012). Medical literature searches: a comparison of PubMed and Google Scholar. Health Information and Libraries Journal, 29(3), 214-222.

Neuhaus et al., (2006). The depth and breadth of Google Scholar: an empirical study, Portal: Libraries and the Academy 6(2), 127–141.

M. Shultz, (2006). Comparing test searches in PubMed and Google Scholar, J. Med. Libr. Assoc. 95, 442–445.

Caveat: As you can see, some of these studies are more than a few years old and as with all studies they should be evaluated for statistical validity.

• So when is it good to use Google Scholar?

When to use Google Scholar

When it’s good to use Google scholar

• Quick and dirty searches where you don’t need comprehensive results

• Research background information on a subject

• Verify citations and quickly find full text

When it’s good to use Google scholar

• Search cross-disciplinary topics (many databases are topic-specific)

• Locate materials not covered in all databases (such as conference proceedings and chapters in books)

• See the number of times an article has been cited and by whom

Google Scholar Tips

• Phrase Searching – Use quotes EXAMPLE: “online learning”

• Advanced Search • VPN for full text• Export to EndNote or RefWorks– Under “settings”

Discussion

• Do you think anything I’ve presented so far will influence the way you search google scholar?

• Can you tell me about experiences you’ve had searching google scholar for medical education literature?

Resources & Help

Medical Education Resources LibGuidehttp://guides.uflib.ufl.edu/OnMed

Mary Edwards, MLIS, EdD273-8421meedwards@ufl.edu