The resources listed here can be reached via http://www.athens.nhs.uk and require an NHS ATHENS ID and password. These are freely available to all NHS staff - just click on the 'Register for database use' link on the left. If you're unsure how to search these databases, give any of our libraries a call and book a training session. Rachel Coton, our Primary Care Librarian, runs sessions for GPs and primary care staff or can come to your workbase and give training at your own PC.
Of course, you don't have to struggle with databases yourself! Let us know what information you need and we will do the search, appraise the results and forward them to you. Use the 'Order a search' link on the left.
What are literature databases?
The literature databases list and index published information, covering journal articles, conference abstracts and, in some cases, reports and academic theses. These databases make no value judgements about how valid or useful the information is; you will find clinical trials with poor sample sizes and shaky conclusions listed next to the core papers on the subject and it is up to you to decide what is useful.
The databases
Medline, 1950 onwards
a vast source of medical information, covering the whole
field of medicine including dentistry, veterinary medicine and
medical psychology. Contains over 4 million citations, of which 80% of post-1965 references have author abstracts. About 30% of journals are fully indexed
within 30 days, and 60% are indexed within 60 days
PsycINFO, 1806 onwards
PsycINFO covers psychological practice and research as well as the
related clinical, social and biological disciplines. This includes information on drug and behavioural therapy, treatment
of disease, drug addiction, developmental psychology, and
educational psychology.
A wide variety of source material is indexed, including over 2,000
periodicals written in over 25 languages, some dating back to 1806. Current chapter and book coverage includes worldwide English-
language material published from 1987 to date. Approximately 30% of
the material originates from Europe. US dissertations account for
about 12% the database.
BNI, 1994 onwards
The British Nursing Index includes over 250 of the most popular and relevant journal sources
in nursing and midwifery. This includes comprehensive coverage of all nursing, midwifery and related titles published in the UK, plus
a selection of important international nursing titles.
AMED, 1985 onwards
The Allied and Complementary Medicine database. Covers the allied health professions and alternatives to conventional medicine, such as
acupuncture, herbalism, homeopathy, chiropractic and osteopathy. Approximately 400 biomedical journals are indexed regularly,
and relevant articles are taken from other journals. The database includes English-language and European sources; newspapers and
books.
Articles are indexed from over 300 English-language journals,
together with books, reports, pamphlets, departmental circulars and other official publications. An important feature
of the database is the inclusion of full bibliographic details, of
Department of Health publications. Approximately one third of documents have abstracts.
CINAHL, 1982 onwards
Or, in full, the Cumulated Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature, covers all aspects of nursing and allied health disciplines. CINAHL
indexes more than 1200 publications and includes book chapters, theses, dissertations and audiovisual material.
EMBASE, 1974 to date
The Excerpta Medica database is a current and comprehensive pharmacological and biomedical database containing about 11
million records from 1974 to date, with approximately 580,000 records added annually. EMBASE features unique international journal coverage and includes
many important journals from Europe and Asia not found in other biomedical databases; overall coverage of approximately 5,000
journals published in 70 countries.
HMIC, 1983 onwards
The Health Management Information Consortium (HMIC) database is a compilation of data from two sources, the Department of Health's Library and Information Services and King's Fund Information and Library Service.
DH-Data is produced by the UK Department of Health Library and Information Services. It reflects the business of the Department of Health
and its agencies and includes all DH publications including circulars and press releases.
The King's Fund Information and Library Service database holds records of the material in the library of the King's Fund Information and Library Service, an independent health charity working to develop and improve the management of health and social care services.
Health Business Elite
This database provides comprehensive journal content detailing all aspects of health care administration and other non-clinical aspects of health care institution management. Topics covered include hospital management, hospital administration, marketing, human resources,
computer technology, facilities management and insurance. Health Business Elite contains full-text content for 490 journals.