HealthcareThe Best Databases for Researching Healthcare and Medicine

The search for proper references is a norm in the world of medicine and healthcare. While the introduction of the internet made it easy for researchers and clinicians to access large amounts of vital healthcare data, information overload has made researching time-consuming. Fortunately, using a specifically designed open-source database can improve your search capability.

If your previous searches have not been effective and you can’t find the information online though you are certain it exists, below are top databases designed for healthcare and medicine.

1. PubMed

PubMed is a popular medical search engine that has been operational since 1996. Like most medical and healthcare databases, interested users can search for literature on biomedical and life sciences for free. It also has studies and research findings on medical-related fields, such as chemical sciences, behavioral sciences, and bioengineering.

The search engine currently has over 34 million study entries, which include abstracts and citations. However, it doesn’t have full-text articles, but users can get links to the publisher’s website for full texts. You can access the following U.S National Library of Medicine resources from PubMed:

• MEDLINE – it contains thousands of MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) indexed articles and citations from journals.
• Bookshelf – it is a book and reports archive that specializes in life sciences and biomedical topics.
• PubMed Central – best for full-text articles on various medical subjects

2. Cochrane Library

Cochrane Library is an open-source database with several independent pieces of evidence. Accessing such high-quality evidence helps healthcare managers and decision-makers to make better decisions. Cochrane Library ideally contains the following three parts:

• Cochrane database of systematic reviews – it is the primary database that contains systematic reviews of medical subjects. The database has strict guidelines that contributors to all peer reviews should adhere to.
• Cochrane central register of controlled trials – it contains reports and findings of controlled trials.
• Cochrane clinical answers – peer reviews uploaded to Cochrane Library are wordy. Healthcare professionals and decision-makers who don’t have time to read the entire review can use Cochrane clinical answers. The database contains clinical questions, short answers, and relevant data.

3. ScienceDirect

ScienceDirect is another widely regarded medical database that contains articles and excerpts from medical journals. The platform was developed by Elsevier, an academic publishing company with over 2500 peer-reviewed journals and publications. The platform currently has more than 16 million articles and almost 40,000 eBooks. Most full-text articles require users to log in.

4. Up To Date

Like Cochrane Library, Up To Date has thousands of articles, abstracts, and detailed reviews on clinical topics. However, unlike most platforms mentioned above, users can only access full-text articles through institutional subscriptions.

5. Google Scholar

Google Scholar closely resembles Google and isn’t specifically designed for healthcare and medical topics. It contains scholarly literature from various databases touching on several disciplines.

The Bottom Line

Science and medical researchers should consult multiple resources when writing their topics. Using various databases that have compiled research findings, reports, and journals from different industry leaders can help researchers increase the quality of their healthcare and medical content.

This post has been sponsored by Pure Storage