Healthcare and Medical databases
 

Databases are the main tool for finding published evidence. They index articles from journals.

There are a number of different databases available, but none of them cover all of the possible relevant journals. This page lists some of the main databases available. Click on the links for access details.

There are also 3 resources listed here which, although not databases in a traditional sense, provide quick ways into the evidence, particularly for those seeking guidance on healthcare interventions. These are Map of Medicine, Clinical Evidence and the National Library of Guidelines.

please select from the buttons below to find information on accessing the following databases: 

AMED	Allied health & alternative medicine articles.
British Nursing Index	Covers over 300 journals taken by the RCN and other major UK Nursing libraries.
CINAHL	The largest of the nursing databases, American-based with international coverage of 1,200 nursing journals.
Clinical Evidence	From BMJ - concise and current summaries of high quality evidence on a range of clinical topics. For Whittington and NHS Camden staff - NHS ATHENS account required. Trust staff can click here to register. For UCL access please click here
Cochrane Library	A collection of systematic reviews derived from high quality clinical trials. A key tool for evidence-based practice.
EMBASE	Medical database strong in pharmacology.
HMIC	Health management databases.
New - Map of Medicine	Evidence-based patient-care pathways - for NHS staff. - NHS ATHENS account required. Trust staff can click here to register. For the public version of Map of Medicine click here
Medline	Medical database strong in clinical research.
National Library of Guidelines	A collection of guidelines for the NHS. No username or password required.
PsycInfo	Covers psychology journals and books.
Pubmed	A free, internet-based version of Medline.
Science & Social Science Citation Indexes	Accessed via the Web of Science this database provides a record of the citation of key journal articles. For University members only.
Social Care Online	The UK's most complete range of information and research on all aspects of social care.

Although databases vary in content and structure, there are certain basic principles for running a successful search. Information on these is available in a: database searching tutorial

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