PBL Information Resources and Tools for the First Year: Case #12 : Lucy O'Reilly - An Everyday Case of Diarrhea

Did you know ...  a keyword search in Roger will help you find books that might have your term in the chapter headings? 

Searching Google for some info?  Don't forget to specify the types of sites you want to see.  Use site:org or site:gov to get results from private organizations or government organizations that have information matching your search terms.  You can even add site:medscape.com   

Not finding what you need?  Having trouble using one of our resources?  Please let us know.

Ask Karen - you can reach me at 858-534-1199 or at kheskett@ucsd.edu

Ask a UC Librarian - for those late-night questions, chat with a UC Librarian 24/7

Medscape - An Online Reference Tool (Free)

Many of you have already found and used Medscape.  With so many library-subscribed resources, this one is often overlooked.  However, as a credible free resource, it is a good one to know, especially when you have moved on from UCSD.  (You need to create an account with Medscape to access information.)  Think of Medscape as similar to DynaMed and Up to Date.  Also, I think their coverage of Pediatric issues is very strong.

The tabs at the top of the article let you see a variety of topics from clinical presentation to DDX to how to workup to treatment & follow up.  The overview section also covers pathophysiology of conditions.

Why is Medscape good?  Can I trust their information?

Good questions you should ask of every resource.  These questions are not about whether you like the look of the site, but what evidence do they offer and that they are credible (think credentialed) authors.  Here are a few things you can see right at the top:

• Who wrote this?  Physicians with credentials and affiliations (and a disclosure statement) just like peer-reviewed journals
• How old is this info?  Update date included - Jan 2012 (it is in the heading but covered by the box).
• How full is their info?  Links to sections within this "article" and not seen in this picture are links to possibly associated information. 
• What is their evidence?  To see it, all you need to do is click the link.  While the evidence is not graded they use very credible sources in their references.  Click "References" to see the list.

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A couple of draw-backs include:

• Requiring registration for accessing (Now you have to think about privacy of your info; however, you opt-in for emails and they don't spam you if you do accept emails.)
• Advertising

Searching PubMed

There will be a great many articles on many of the topics this week.  Searches will be more relevent when an age filter is used.  It is a little hidden, but is one of the options on the left of the results screen.  The steps are very quick and takes longer to explain than for you to actually use.  The benefit is that it will significantly reduce the number of articles but make sure they are appropriate for someone Lucy's age.

First step - after running your search is to add the age filter.

1)  Click "Additional Filters".

2)  Click on Age and select Adolescent and Young Adult.

3)  Then click on Show

Now that you can see it in the list of filters, you can click on it to apply the filter.

• You might find other filters that can help focus your search - for example clinical trials, meta-analysis, case reports, etc. as well as other criteria (like limiting to English Language articles).

You could also try the TRIP Database to look for articles -- see next box.

Trip Database -- One Place to Search for High Quality Evidence

Focus on resources that offer high levels of evidence from well-respected evidence-based medicine resources.  The following resource is available to everyone without a subscription and for the most part have been developed with government funding.  Use the filters (on the right-side of the screen) to narrow to a specific specialty or type of resource - for example, U.S. guidelines for celiac disease.

Resources for Understanding Lab Tests

Looking up information about the results of lab tests are mostly background questions.  The following resources are easy to use tools to find very reliable information about the normal values, reference ranges, and more.  Don't do a global search in Access Medicine or MDConsult, go right to the resource you need -  Great for the albumin look up.

MedlinePlus is a great place to find consumer-friendly materials along with directories, a dictionary & encyclopedia, and more.  Take a look and see what you find - Celiac disease.