UNMC Library Tutorial: PubMed Essentials Single-Page View

At the hospital, you are on a team that is investigating methods to reduce hospital-acquired infection. It has been proposed that patients bath in chlorhexidine. You are tasked with identifying evidence in the literature, particularly any systematic reviews, in order to strengthen your argument.

Access PubMed through the library’s website. Doing so allows you to also access the library’s full-text collection. Locate MEDLINE via PubMed in the Quick Links. You may need to horizontal scroll to see the Quick Links on the right side of the screen. If you are off-campus, you will need to log in with your UNMC Net ID.

At first, you conduct a keyword search. What do you type in the search box?

Chlorhexidine AND bath AND hospital-acquired infection Chlorhexidine AND bath Chlorhexidine AND bath*

Type chlorhexidine AND bath* into the search box and click Search.

You receive 191 results (as of 10/10/2013).

After the PMID, notice that the first few results are labeled [PubMed], [PubMed - as supplied by publisher], or [PubMed - in process]. These are citations that only keywords can pick up. They are too new to have been indexed with MeSH terms.

After you have identified these newer articles, you decide that you do not want to look through almost 200 results. To get more precise results, you conduct a subject heading or MeSH search.

Return to the main PubMed page by clicking on the PubMed.gov logo, located in the upper left-hand corner of the page. Then, under More Resources, click on the MeSH Database.

Type chlorhexidine into the search box and click Search.

Which MeSH Term should you use?

Chlorhexidine chlorhexidine gluconate, lidocaine drug combination [Supplementary Concept] chlorhexidine, zinc acetate drug combination [Supplementary Concept] chlorhexidine, zinc acetate drug combination [Supplementary Concept]

Check the box next to Chlorhexidine and click the Add to search builder button.

Return to the search box at the top and type in bath.

Which MeSH Term will you use?

Baths Steam bath Hydrotherapy

Check the box next to baths and click the Add to search builder button.

Your MeSH terms are now coded to search only for articles tagged with those terms.

Click the Search PubMed button to run your search.

You should have received about 90 results.

There are several relevant articles, but you want to first find out if there are any systematic reviews.

How do you filter your results to include only systematic reviews?

Type systematic review into the search box Read through all of the citations until you find a systematic review Select Systematic Review from the Article Types filter.

To add systematic review to the filter toolbar, select More under Article Types on the left-hand side of the screen.

Scroll down the list of article types and check the box next to Systematic Review and click the Show button.

Wait, there is one more step! Now that systematic review is visible in the article types, you must click on systematic review to filter your results. Click now.

What luck! There are systematic reviews! One in particular catches your eye.

In your result list, click on Chlorhexidine body washing to control antimicrobial-resistant bacteria in intensive care units: a systematic review.

Does the library have the full-text? Click on the GetIt!@UNMC button to find out.

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You have now completed the PubMed Essentials interactive tutorial. Try these techniques next time you conduct a PubMed search!

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