Medicine and health

Welcome to the subject guide for medicine and health! Here you will find databases, journals, links and other information that you may find useful when searching for material in a specific subject area.

Articles and databases

Interdisciplinary databases

• Academic Search Premier (LTU)
  A multidisciplinary research database.
• Scopus (LTU)
  A reference database that provides abstracts and citations for scholarly articles. It covers subjects in science, engineering, medicine, social sciences, arts and humanities.
  
• Web of Science (LTU)
  Multidisciplinary reference and citation database containing scientific articles and conference proceedings. Allows you to search and perform analyses based on cited publications.
  

Databases in medicine and health

• Swedish MeSH
  Use Swedish MeSH when you need to find controlled vocabulary to search in PubMed.
• PubMed (LTU)
  Reference database in medicine, nursing, rehabilitation, dentistry, and related fields. Published by the National Library of Medicine.
  
• CINAHL with Full Text (LTU)
  A reference database covering nursing, occupational therapy, physiotherapy and health administration. It also includes full-text articles.
  
• APA PsycInfo (LTU)
  A reference database in psychology.
  
• SBU, Swedish Agency for Health Technology Assessment and Assessment of Social ServicesSystematic reviews in Swedish.
  
• Cochrane Library (LTU)
  Systematic reviews in medicine and related fields.
  
• Micromedex (LTU)
  Evidence-based information service providing information on pharmaceuticals, diseases, toxicology and alternative medicine.
  
• AMED (LTU)
  A reference database in alternative medicine, physiotherapy, occupational therapy and rehabilitation.
  
• APA PsycArticles (LTU)
  A full-text database from the American Psychological Association.
  
• SPORTDiscus with Full Text (LTU)
  Reference database in sports and sports medicine research. Also contains full-text articles.
  

Journals in medicine and health

• DOAJ, Directory of Open Access Journals
  Open access, peer-reviewed scientific journals in various subject areas.
  
• Journals
  Search among the University Library's journals within your subject area.

Links

• FASS
  Database with information about pharmaceuticals. Fass, the Pharmaceutical Specialties in Sweden, contains pharmaceutical information. Fass is produced by Läkemedelsindustriföreningens Service AB, a trade organisation for research-based pharmaceutical companies operating in Sweden.
  
• Läkemedelsboken
  Information on pharmaceutical treatments for common diseases, published by the Swedish Medical Products Agency. Available in Swedish.
  
• The American Psychological Association
  The APA is an organisation dedicated to advancing the creation, communication, and application of psychological knowledge.
• The Handbook for Healthcare
  The Handbook for Healthcare aims to ensure equal access to safe, high-quality healthcare for everyone. It covers over a hundred topics with clinically adapted information, including texts, films, slideshows, illustrations, and photos. Available in Swedish.
• The National Cancer Institute
  Cancer information from the National Cancer Institute, including reports, fact sheets, patient and healthcare professional publications, encyclopedias, blogs, and newsletters.
• The Swedish Medical Products Agency
  The Swedish Medical Products Agency is a government authority working on behalf of the government and parliament to promote public and animal health in Sweden. It provides treatment recommendations, drug information, and regulatory guidelines.
• The Public Health Agency of Sweden
  The Public Health Agency of Sweden is an expert authority responsible for national public health issues.
• The World Health Organization, WHO
  The WHO (World Health Organization) serves as the directing and coordinating authority for international health within the United Nations system.

ICD and ICF

ICD and ICF are international classification systems for diseases and health conditions.

ICD

The International Classification of Diseases (ICD) is a globally recognised diagnostic classification system. It is used to categorise diseases and other health issues, as well as in death certificates and patient records. Beyond supporting the storage and use of diagnostic information for clinical and epidemiological purposes, the ICD data also serves as a foundation for compiling national cause-of-death records and morbidity statistics within World Health Organization (WHO) Member States.

• ICD-10-SE
  Swedish version of ICD-10, available on the National Board of Health and Welfare's website, available in Swedish.
• ICD-11 Online
  Search for ICD codes on the World Health Organization (WHO) website. ICD-11 provides codes for classifying mortality and morbidity statistics.
• About ICD-11
  Learn more about the ICD-11 on the WHO website.
  

ICF

The International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) categorises health and health-related domains. It consists of three lists: body functions, body structures, and activities and participation. Recognising that an individual's functioning and disability are influenced by their environment, the ICF also includes a list of environmental factors.

• ICF Browser
  Search for ICF in the WHO's search service.
• ICF in Swedish
  The international classification ICF translated into Swedish by the National Board of Health and Welfare. Available in Swedish.

Ethical codes

Professional ethics codes are used to guide ethical reasoning, support practitioners in their work, maintain public confidence in the profession, and strengthen professional identity.

• Research ethics
  Uppsala University collection of information on research ethics.
  
• Declaration of Helsinki
  Ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects, established by the World Medical Association (WMA).

Evidence-based practice

Evidence-based medicine (EBM) and evidence-based care (EBC) mean that healthcare professionals use the best available scientific information together with clinical experience and the patient's preferences when treating and caring for patients. Evidence-based medicine follows four steps:

1. Formulate a question – a patient-related question that can be answered.
2. Information search – find literature that answers the question.
3. Critical review – is the literature relevant and valid?
4. Apply the results – treat and care for patients based on current evidence.

1. Formulate a question

A clear question gets a clear answer. PICO is a model often used in evidence-based care to structure and clarify the question. PICO stands for:
Population
Intervention
Comparison
Outcome

Population

Which patient category is relevant? Which age groups? Men or women? With what diagnosis, disease severity, risk factors, or other conditions?

Intervention

What treatment method is relevant? Applied by which type of therapist, at what intensity, and for what duration?

Control

Compared to what other method, placebo, or lack of intervention?

Outcome

Mortality? Morbidity? Quality of life? Measured by which method?

Keywords

When the search query is divided into smaller components, it’s time to find synonyms and subject headings for the terms, for example by using Swedish MeSH.

• Swedish MeSH
  Use Swedish MeSH when you need to find controlled vocabulary to search in PubMed.
  

2. Information search

Usually, an evidence-based information search focuses on the first two parts of PICO: population and intervention. These can be broken down further. For example, if the population is 'adolescents with alcohol abuse,' you can separate it into 'adolescents' and 'alcohol abuse.' This approach is called the building block strategy. You combine all synonyms, subject headings, and free text into one block using OR, and then combine your blocks with AND, as shown in the example below:

Block 1:

("Virtual reality therap*" OR "Virtual reality glasses" OR "virtual reality technolog*" OR "virtual goggles" OR "VR goggles" OR Virtual Reality [Mesh] OR Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy [Mesh])

Block 2:

("panic attack*" OR Phobic Disorders [Mesh] OR Panic Disorder [Mesh] OR Anxiety [Mesh] OR Anxiety Disorders [Mesh])

Block 1 and block 2:

("Virtual reality therap*" OR "Virtual reality glasses" OR "virtual reality technolog*" OR "virtual goggles" OR "VR goggles" OR Virtual Reality [Mesh] OR Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy [Mesh]) AND ("panic attack*" OR Phobic Disorders [Mesh] OR Panic Disorder [Mesh] OR Anxiety [Mesh] OR Anxiety Disorders [Mesh])

Suitable databases and search sources:

The choice of databases for your search depends on the type of material you want to find. For evidence-based information searches, the SBU or Cochrane Library is a good place to start. After that, you can search for original articles in databases such as PubMed.

Suggestions of databases and sources

• SBU, Statens beredning för medicinsk och social utvärdering
  Systematic reviews in Swedish.
• Cochrane Library (LTU)
  Systematic reviews in medicine and related fields.
• PubMed (LTU)
  Reference database in medicine, nursing, rehabilitation, dentistry, and related fields. Published by the National Library of Medicine. Go to Clinical Queries and search for studies concerning therapy, diagnosis or prevention. You can also find systematic reviews
  
• CINAHL with Full Text (LTU)
  A reference database covering nursing, occupational therapy, physiotherapy and health administration. It also includes full-text articles. Limit your search to Evidence-based practice or select a publication type.
  
• OTseeker
  Systematic reviews within the field of occupational therapy.
• PEDro
  Randomized controlled trials and systematic literature reviews in physiotherapy.
  
• Trip
  Search for evidence-based resources, including material from SBU, the Cochrane Library, HTA and PubMed. Search results are organised into categories, with a small selection of the best evidence shown first.
  

3. Critical review

To evaluate relevance, validity, and clinical utility, the scientific quality of the articles must be assessed, as the studies may contain systematic errors or biases. Errors in results can, for example, stem from incorrect data, interpretation mistakes, or assessment errors. Various review templates are often used to assess the material, such as:

• Critical appraisal tools and checklists from SBU
  Different types of review templates for systematic reviews, as well as tips on templates that students can use in their projects.
• GRADE
  An international grading system often used in evidence grading to assess the reliability of the scientific basis.
• PEDro scale
  The PEDro scale is used in the PEDro database to evaluate the quality of clinical trials.

4. Apply the Results

The applicability of scientific findings to a patient depends on their needs and the clinical experience of healthcare providers. How generalisable are the study's results? Do the benefits of the chosen intervention outweigh its drawbacks? Is the evidence sufficiently robust?