Library News

UPDATED: July 21, 2025.   Original Post: May 27, 2019

True or false: Healthcare literature that is more than five years old has no value.
Answer: It depends.

Healthcare professionals seeking answers to clinical questions for patient care need the most current available evidence. This type of medical information is continually evolving. For example, drug information can become outdated – and possibly outright dangerous – in as little as a year or two.

Other types of healthcare information change less frequently. Older anatomy and physiology textbooks and atlases, for example, may still include accurate information but may lack diverse representation and accessibility features found in newer editions.

Sometimes, older medical literature is valuable because of its historical perspective. One current example is case studies of past public health efforts to eradicate infectious diseases that are now resurging, such as measles. Lessons from past immunization campaigns, both successful and unsuccessful, can inform current and future strategies (Infante, 2025). They can provide insights such as (Hebert, 2012; Eddy, 2023; Infante, 2025):

• The vaccination coverage rate needed for herd immunity.
• The roles that socioeconomical, political, and cultural factors play.
• Approaches to help overcome challenges and barriers such as vaccine hesitancy and misinformation.

Other examples of historical medical information that still has merit include:

• Literature that illustrates the evolution of current medical knowledge and practices, and healthcare policies.
• Literature that involves practices that have withstood the test of time and are still relevant (e.g., hirudotherapy).

Where to find the most current clinical information

• Clinical Practice Supports
• BMJ Best Practice
• ClinicalKey
• Dynamic Health
• Pharmacist’s Letter Canada
• CPS

Where to find older medical literature

• PubMed can retrieve citations going back to the early 20th century for some publications.
• PsychINFO® contains historical psychological abstracts dating back to the 1800s.
• Library Services’ Ovid® journals collection contains titles dating back to 1946.

Older back issues of many journals can also be found by:

• Searching Library Services’ ejournal and print journal collection
• Applying publication date filters to results from Library Services’ Discover search

If you’re unsure of where to find the information you need, current or historical reach out to Library Services at AskLibrary@nshealth.ca or book a consultation with a library team member.

References:

1. Infante, D. (2025). Immunization strategies: What lessons can we learn from successful campaigns? News-Medical.Net. https://www.news-medical.net/health/Immunization-strategies-What-lessons-can-we-learn-from-successful-campaigns.aspx

2. Eddy, J.J., Smith, H.A., & Abrams, J.E. (2023). Historical lessons on vaccine hesitancy: Smallpox, polio, and measles, and implications for COVID-19. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, 66(1), 145-159. doi: 10.1353/pbm.2023.0008

3. Hebert, C.J., Hall, C.M., & Odoms, L.N.J. (2012). Lessons learned and applied. Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics, 8(5), 560-568. doi: 10.4161/hv.19204

Lana MacEachern

Library Technician
Pictou/Colchester-East Hants/Cumberland Region

Are you interested in learning how to access information using Library Services resources or developing patient education pamphlets? Our education sessions teach practical information skills that meet the evolving needs of:

• Clinicians, staff and researchers who need to efficiently access health sciences literature for research and to inform patient care
• Clinicians who need to learn how to access new/under-utilized point-of-care tools and other relevant resources

Online education sessions, offered on Microsoft Teams, cover topics such as:

• Library Services orientation
• Literature search tips to assist with research
• Searching specific databases (such as PubMed®, CINAHL, etc.)
• Developing patient pamphlets
• Copyright advice

We keep in mind health care workers' busy schedules so new classes are added every three months with a variety of dates and times. There is sure to be a session suitable for you.

View online education and training opportunities

1. Be sure to check our Learning Opportunities calendar often. You can access the calendar from Library Services’ website by selecting Services at the top of the Library’s home page. From the dropdown menu, select Education and Training Sessions.
2. Watch for learning opportunities in the Library Services section of Nova Scotia Health News.
3. Print and post our fall education flyer - coming in September! From the Library Services home page, select Documents & Forms from the left-hand menu. Select Promotion, then the Library Learning Opportunities document for the current season.
4. Keep an eye out for promotional emails from Library Services.

Online session registration is quick and easy:

1. From the Learning Opportunities calendar, select the session you are interested in.
2. Select the Begin Registration button and complete the form.
3. Before you select Register, it is helpful to have your device set up properly to join the meeting.
   1. Support for joining the meeting is provided on the registration page and in the confirmation email you will receive.
   2. If you have any difficulty, please email Library Services prior to the session date.
4. Once you have registered, you will receive a confirmation email with the link to join the session.
5. You will also receive a reminder email before the session date.
6. After the session, you will receive a Training Evaluation Form. Your feedback is important!

Custom Group Training

Looking for a customized group training session? We have you covered! Our instructors deliver customized education sessions on several topics that support your info needs, at a time that works best for your team. Depending on the type of request, customized group training can be delivered virtually, via Microsoft Teams, or in-person. Let us know what you are looking for by filling out our Custom Group Training form. A Library Services team member will be in touch to arrange your session.

Consultations

Library Services’ team members also provide consultations. Meet one-on-one with a library and information professional for help with your project, publication, research or other info need. Book a consultation online today!

We look forward to meeting you in one or more of these sessions, or in a consultation with a Library team member. As always, please reach out to AskLibrary@nshealth.ca with questions or for further info about Library Services’ Education and Training opportunities.

Amanda Andrews

Librarian Educator, Education & Training Lead
Eastern Zone - Cape Breton, Guysborough, Antigonish

The results are in: Nova Scotia Health staff and physicians are making great use of the BMJ Best Practice Comorbidities point-of-care tool!

Did you know you can access the same content, including the Comorbidities Manager, on the BMJ Best Practice app

BMJ Best Practice, including the Comorbidities Manager, is available 24/7 to support health care providers with making informed clinical decisions.

In the first 12 months after launching the BMJ Comorbidities Manager add-on at Nova Scotia Health:

• Use of the BMJ Best Practice database increased by 150%
• Views of the treatment management section increased by an average of 73%
• 40% of the top ten most-used topics fall within the Comorbidities section

The BMJ Comorbidities Manager allows health care providers to treat the whole patient using a patient’s comorbidities to inform a more tailored treatment plan. This tool is integrated into BMJ Best Practice and is the only clinical decision support tool of its kind (BMJ Best Practice, 2023).

Usage statistics show that at Nova Scotia Health, sessions on the app have increased by 40% since 2021. Having access to the Comorbidities Manager on the go means you have access to clinical decision support anytime, anywhere!

BMJ Best Practice App Benefits

• The ability to tailor treatment plans with the Comorbidities Manager
• Access more than 1,000 conditions summaries offline. Clinical decision support is available on your mobile device even when you are not connected to your network and do not have access to the Internet
• Access over 200 interactive medical calculators
• Automatic tracking of your activity for CME/CPD purposes

BMJ Best Practice, 2023

How to Get the App

Downloading the app is quick and easy. It only uses minimal storage on your device. You must have a personal account in order to use the app. To create an account:

1. Access BMJ Best Practice via the library’s Databases A-Z page.
2. Create a BMJ Best Practice personal account through the pop-up box – “Create your FREE personal account in one step”.
3. Download and install the app from the App Store or from Google Play.
4. Select "Log in" and enter your BMJ Best Practice personal account details to sign in.

Visit Library Services’ Mobile Apps & Resources guide for more information.

Using the Comorbidities Manager on the app

Let’s look at how you could use the Comorbidities Manager in the following clinical scenario:

An 80-year-old man presents at the emergency department with acute exacerbation of COPD. You learn from his family that he also has depression and diabetes. You need to quickly decide how to best treat his acute condition while considering his pre-existing conditions.

Search for ‘acute exacerbation of COPD’ by typing it into the search bar (1). On the app, predictive text is enabled when searching for conditions.

Under Management (2) select Treatment algorithm (3).

A pop-up box will appear to add your patient’s comorbidities. Check the boxes for both Diabetes and Depression (4) and select Show Treatment Algorithm (5).

Options that are affected or added because of the patient’s comorbidities will be indicated by the Comorbidities icon  (6). Click on each treatment option for further details (7).

NOTE Not all conditions will include the ability to add comorbidities.

For more information about using the BMJ Best Practice Comorbidities Manager on the app or the desktop version, book a consultation with a library team member, or email us at AskLibrary@nshealth.ca.

References

1. BMJ Publishing Group Limited. (2023). Comorbidities: Treat the whole patient. BMJ Best Practice. https://bestpractice.bmj.com/info/comorbidities.

2. BMJ Publishing Group Limited.(2023). Free access to our award-winning app for BMJ Best Practice users. BMJ Best Practice. https://bestpractice.bmj.com/info/us/download-the-app/

Amanda Andrews

Librarian Educator, Education & Training Lead
Cape Breton Regional Hospital, Eastern Zone

Nova Scotia Health is a large organization with a diverse range of professionals working together around the clock to deliver health care to Nova Scotians.

Some of the projects we take on to support improvement in health care delivery involve trying new ways of doing things in terms of workflow and triage, or trialing new medications and exercise regimes. Whether your project is at the broader organizational level or a trial in an individual clinic area, publishing what you have tried and what you learned from it (including what didn’t work) can start or add to an existing body of evidence that helps push new practices forward, in Nova Scotia and beyond.

While getting published has many benefits, it can seem like a huge undertaking, especially when you’ve never done it before. Don’t let lack of experience stop you!

Use our 5 key considerations to take the first steps towards getting published and sharing your knowledge.

The key considerations highlighted in the slide deck above are not exhaustive, but hopefully they have provided you with new things to consider when sharing your work.

Library Services is here to help you throughout the information cycle—whether you are looking for relevant information to guide care or viable ways to publish as a first-time author. We can help you narrow down your publishing options, scope out the submission guidelines for a few titles, draft an abstract, narrow down promotional hashtags, or collaborate with you as an author. Get the ball rolling by booking a consultation with a librarian or reaching out to us at AskLibrary@nshealth.ca. We’re looking forward to learning about your project!

Katie McLean

Librarian Educator, Outreach Lead
Dickson Building, Central Zone

UPDATED: June 10, 2024

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then is a video worth a million? We like to think so!

Library Services provides Nova Scotia Health staff with access to full-text ebooks, ejournals, and articles. Did you know you can access procedural videos as well? If you are looking for a visual refresher on how to perform a procedure, BMJ Best Practice and ClinicalKey® have you covered.

BMJ Best Practice

Our access to BMJ Best Practice includes videos on common clinical procedures. Each video is accompanied by a list of equipment, complications, indications, contraindications and aftercare.

Browse a list of procedural videos

1. Go to the Library Services Databases A-Z page. Enter BMJ in the search box, then click on the Go button; or select B from the Databases A-Z alphabet list.
2. Click on the BMJ Best Practice link.
3. From the BMJ Best Practice home page, select Multimedia (A) from the menu bar, then Videos.

Locate videos on a specific subject
As an example, let’s search for "osteoporosis":

1. Go to the BMJ Best Practice home page (as in steps 1 and 2 above).
2. Enter "osteoporosis" in the search box, then click on the search icon.
3. In the search results screen for "osteoporosis", click on the Signs & symptoms link (B).

Under the Resources heading (C), you will find a link to Images and videos (D) on your specific subject.

Note: Most, but not all, subjects and procedures in BMJ have accompanying images and videos.

ClinicalKey®

ClinicalKey’s procedure videos provide step-by-step visuals for dozens of procedures. Each video is accompanied by instructive text, images, and equipment lists. 

Browse a list of procedural videos

1. Go to the Library Services Databases A-Z page. Enter ClinicalKey in the search box, then click on the Go button; or select C from the Databases A-Z alphabet list.
2. Click on the ClinicalKey link.
3. On the ClinicalKey home page, scroll down to the Deepen your specialty and medical knowledge section, then click on the link for Procedure Videos (E). 

Note: You can browse the resulting list of videos alphabetically (F) or by specialty (G).

Locate videos on a specific subject 
As an example, let’s look for "nasogastric tube placement":

1. Go to the ClinicalKey® home page (as in steps 1 and 2 above).
2. To the left of the search box, click on the All Types drop-down menu and select Procedure Videos (H). 
3. Enter "nasogastric tube placement" in the search box, then click on the Search button (I).

TIP When you click on the link for a procedure video, there is a double arrow ⤢ in the top-right corner of the screen. Click on the arrow to open ‘reading mode.’ This makes the accompanying text larger so it is easier to read.

Copyright considerations

Like other forms of information, procedural videos are protected by copyright. You must have permission and/or give recognition to the creator to be able to reuse and/or share them. Permissions differ by resource. Before using any video, check the copyright permissions for the video. 

TIP For most databases, copyright permissions can be found under the Terms and Conditions link (J) at the bottom of the home page. If you have questions, reach out to copyright@nshealth.ca. 

Procedural videos are great visual tools to help refresh your skills. BMJ Best Practice and ClinicalKey® both have an extensive selection of videos to meet your clinical practice and research needs. If you would like more information on procedural videos, reach out to AskLibrary@nshealth.ca, or book a one-on-one consultation with a team member. We are always here to help!

Amanda Andrews

Librarian Educator, Education & Training Lead
Eastern Zone - Cape Breton, Guysborough, Antigonish

Current, peer-reviewed info about COVID is vital as we move into the later stages of the pandemic. Thankfully, scientists and clinicians around the world continue to answer the call, publishing record numbers of articles and sharing even more pre-prints.

You may have noticed that the majority of the results for your recent searches have a COVID focus. But what if you don’t need COVID-focused evidence? When you do not want a term included in your search and that term is clouding your ability to screen in relevant items, consider using the NOT Boolean operator.

Using NOT to exclude results

If you’ve participated in any of the Library’s education sessions about database searching, you may be familiar with how Boolean operators work:

• Using OR between terms or searches will increase results.
• Using AND will decrease results.
• Using NOT will exclude concepts from search results.

Use caution when using NOT, as it is easy to unintentionally exclude potentially valuable results. For example, an item’s metadata (the info that describes the item) may use the term you are excluding alongside other terms that are relevant to your search.

Using NOT to exclude COVID in PubMed

Let’s say you’ve heard a lot about wastewater monitoring for COVID in Canada and are wondering what else is being monitored this way. If you run a quick search in PubMed for wastewater AND (monitor OR surveillance) AND Canada, you’ll notice that the top results have a strong COVID focus. To remove COVID results, you must do two things:

1. Enclose your first search in brackets to help the database understand your request correctly.
2. Add NOT, followed by the term(s)/search strategy that will best remove the most irrelevant items from your search.

Adding brackets around your first search, then adding NOT and any additional term(s) will make sure the database processes your original search first.

Try: (wastewater AND (monitor OR surveillance) AND Canada) NOT COVID

Step 2 is where things can get complex because we have choices about how comprehensive we want to be with our exclusion. Simply adding “NOT COVID” to the original search in brackets will exclude some COVID articles but may miss excluding some since there are many variants of the virus. If you want to be sure you are being as comprehensive as possible, what should you do?

Using COVID-19 PubMed filters: Inclusion & Exclusion

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) maintains PubMed and has created highly accurate search strategies to isolate results about COVID. These search strategies range from General to Treatment-focused and take the variable terminology inherent in COVID into account. Originally developed to let you easily include COVID content in a more comprehensive way, you can also use these strategies to exclude COVID content more accurately.

Thinking about Step 2 in the process above, you can grab the shorthand for a specific filter, Filter Name (1), and add it to your search with NOT using the Filter command (i.e. [Filter]).

Let’s add the General COVID-19 Filter: (wastewater AND (monitor OR surveillance) AND Canada) NOT LitCGeneral[Filter]

This extra step isn’t always necessary, as your own terms may be just as effective at excluding from a current search result set. However, when you are setting up a search strategy for monitoring new results over time, using these tested filters can help ensure you account for evolving terminology.

Using NOT in other databases

NOT, the other Boolean operators, and brackets are core mechanics of how any database works. You can use the steps outlined here to exclude a term or search strategy in most biomedical databases supported by Library Services (such as CINAHL, Embase and more).

You can also look for COVID-19 search strategies, or other search strategies developed by each database.  You might notice these filters in pop-ups or alerts in a given database, or labelled as “evidence-based” or “clinical” filters within the Advanced search options.

If you are interested in learning more about using advanced searching techniques or tested search filters, please book an online consultation with a librarian at a time that works for you. If you’re interested in learning more on your own, visit the Search Filters page on our Searching subject guide.

Katie McLean

Librarian Educator, Outreach Lead

Dickson Building, Central Zone

Library Services has several new ebooks on our virtual shelves. A selection of these ebooks have been added thanks to the generosity of the Dr. Chauhan Memorial Trust Fund (Cape Breton, Guysborough, Antigonish Strait region).

Dr. Chauhan Memorial Trust Fund purchases

With funding from the Dr. Chauhan Memorial Trust Fund, Library Services has added the following titles to support the practice of physicians, nurses, and allied health providers. Many of the titles are highly recommended by Doody's Review Service. 

Click on a title below to view the item's record in our catalogue, then simply click 'View ebook' to open.

• Clinical Consult to Psychiatric Mental Health: Management for Nurse Practitioners (2021)
• Damage Control Resuscitation: Identification and Treatment of Life-Threatening Hemorrhage (2020)
• Emergency Medicine: Diagnosis and Management (2021)
• Fundamentals of Paramedic Practice: A Systems Approach (2020)
• Health Equity and Nursing: Achieving Equity Through Policy, Population Health, and Interprofessional Collaboration (2021)
• New Techniques for Brand Management in the Healthcare Sector (2021)
• Paramedic: A Quick Study Digital Reference Guide (2020)
• Telemedicine, Telehealth and Telepresence: Principles, Strategies, Applications and New Directions (2021)
• Translation of Evidence into Nursing and Healthcare (2021)

Additional ebooks added to the collection

• Acute Nursing Care: Recognising and Responding to Medical Emergencies (2021)
• Comprehensive Healthcare Simulation: Emergency Medicine (2021)
• Fast Facts for the ER Nurse: Guide to a Successful Emergency Department Orientation (2022)
• Innovative Strategies in Teaching Nursing: Exemplars of Optimal Learning Outcomes (2021)   
• An Introduction to Indigenous Health and Healthcare in Canada: Bridging Health and Healing (2022)
• Oxford Handbook of Primary Care and Community Nursing (2021)

Looking for more ebooks like the ones we've selected? Try finding related titles using the Subject (MeSH) (Medical Subject Headings) links in each record:

1. Click on the ebook's title or the blue arrow to the left of the title to show the full catalogue record.
2. Click on one of the Subjects (MeSH) for more items on the same topic.

As Nova Scotia Health staff and physicians, you have access to more than 11,000 ebooks! If there is an ebook or other resource that you think Library Services should add to the collection, please let us know. On your computer, click on the 'Request' drop-down arrow at the top of this web page, then click on 'Suggestions for Library Purchase' and complete and submit the electronic form. On your mobile device simply click on the grey button in the upper right corner of your screen to find the 'Request' drop-down menu.

Thanks again to the generosity of the Dr. Chauhan Memorial Trust Fund. As always, if you have any questions, please connect with Library Services.

Amanda Andrews

Librarian Educator
Cape Breton Regional Hospital, Eastern Zone

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a huge increase in the publication of biomedical articles. Submissions to Elsevier’s health and medical journals increased by 92% between February and May 2020 over the same period in 2019 (Else, 2020).

As COVID-19 research rapidly evolves, there have been a few notable retractions of published results.

• An article in The Lancet, citing harmful effects of the drug hydroxychloroquine, was withdrawn after evidence emerged that it was based on unverified data.
• Conversely, several articles touting the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine were also retracted (Retraction Watch, 2020).

Retraction Watch maintains a running list of COVID-19-related papers that have been withdrawn from publication; however, this issue is far broader and older than the pandemic. Articles may be retracted for a number of reasons, ranging from honest mistakes, to deliberate manipulation of the peer review process, plagiarism, or falsification of data. A 2016 study of articles retracted from BioMed Central journals between 2000 and 2015 found that 76% of the retractions were due to some form of misconduct (Moylan & Kowalczuk, 2016). The reason for a retraction is not always transparent.

Impact of retractions

Although “[r]etracting problematic articles helps to maintain the accuracy and integrity of the biomedical literature” (Gaudino et al, 2021), several studies have shown that many retracted articles continue to be cited long after they have been withdrawn (Candal-Pedreira et al., 2020; Gaudino et al., 2021; Theis-Mahon & Bakker, 2020). One notorious example of this is the 1998 paper by Wakefield et al., which linked vaccines and autism. It was cited at least 881 times between its partial retraction in 2004 and final retraction in 2010 (Candal-Pedreira et al., 2020).

Authors may unintentionally cite retracted articles for several reasons:

• They may not be aware that an article has been retracted because it is not clearly indicated in the text (Candal-Pedreira et al., 2010).
• Many retracted papers are still available in full text on authors’ websites, institutional repositories, or journal databases (Teixeira da Silva & Bornemann-Cimenti, 2017).
• Authors may assume that citation lists from other articles are reliable and accurate (Candal-Pedreira et al., 2010).
• Databases do not always link retraction notices to the original article (Teixeira da Silva & Bornemann-Cimenti, 2017).

For example, although the retracted status is noted, full text of this retracted article from the New England Journal of Medicine is still available on the journal’s website: 

(Mehra, Desai, Kuy, Henry, & Patel 2020)

Be aware!

Citing retracted articles can have serious consequences and, in the case of inaccurate medical research, may even pose risks to patient health (Candal-Pedreira et al., 2020; Teixeira da Silva & Bornemann-Cimenti, 2017).

The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) 2018 guidelines for submission to medical journals state that “authors are responsible for checking that none of the[ir] references cite retracted articles except in the context of referring to the retraction” (p.18).

If you are writing for publication, you can check your citation list for retracted articles by:

• Searching the Retraction Watch database. Although not an exhaustive list, this database contains more than 20,000 entries. Note: Citation manager Zotero partners with Retraction Watch to check your document database for retractions.
• Searching PubMed. The ICMJE (2018) considers PubMed the authoritative source for retracted journals indexed in MEDLINE. You can find retracted articles in PubMed by limiting your search results by ARTICLE TYPE from the filters in the left-hand column, and selecting Corrected and Republished Article, Retracted Publication, and/or Retraction of Publication. You may have to select “Additional filters” to see the full list of article types:

If you have questions about article retractions, email us at AskLibrary@nshealth.ca or book an appointment with a Library Services staff member.

Roxanne MacMillan

Librarian Educator
Dickson Building, Central Zone

Searching for accurate, evidence-based literature can be complicated. The good news is, most medical databases have developed filters to help you retrieve more precise results.

Search filters (also called hedges) are used to narrow a search and/or focus on a specific publication type, level of evidence, and/or subject area. Filters are constructed using specific database syntax (rules and commands). Search strategies are developed using rules and commands to search a variety of databases and interfaces, including PubMed, Ovid, EMBASE®, and CINAHL. (Nova Scotia Health Library Services, 2021)

Search filters are a quick and efficient way to search for information. They usually fall into two broad categories:

• Methodological: these help you locate specific types of studies (e.g. clinical trials, cohort studies, systematic reviews)
• Topic or subject: these cover various subjects or disciplines (e.g. palliative care, aging, lung cancer) 

(Curtin University Library, 2020)

It is important to recognize and identify the impact that using a particular filter may have on your search results. If a particular filter works well in a given context and does not appear to produce a high number of irrelevant results or exclude relevant items, by all means use it. However, you should be mindful that filters can alter what is retrieved from your search (Nova Scotia Health Library Services, 2021).

Several trusted databases, including PubMed, have developed filters to narrow search results by methodology, publication type or question category (e.g. therapy, diagnosis, etiology, prognosis, clinical prediction guides). Reviewing the step-by-step instructions for applying filters in PubMed is a helpful way to get started.  

Applying search filters in PubMed

Let’s work with a research question to see how search filters can assist you, when used properly, to obtain relevant results.

Example research question: Does exercise help improve back pain in adults? 

To help narrow down our results in PubMed we can apply the following filters after we have conducted our search:

• Age: Based on our example question, let’s use the age filter, specifically ‘adult’, to limit our results.
• Publication date: A good rule of thumb is to look for evidence published in the last five years (2017-2021), unless your research question specifies otherwise.
• Study/Publication type: You can filter to only retrieve a certain study type. For this example, let’s select systematic reviews. The best type of study may differ based on your research question.
• Language: You can limit results to a specific language, such as English or French only.

Applying these filters decreases our number of results from 7,000 to 34. Although this is a much more manageable number, it is important to be aware that potential results may be missed by applying filters.

It is recommended to use filters produced by trusted groups. For a detailed list of search filters produced by reliable groups, please visit Library Services’ Search Filters page.

Remember to be critical when using filters, so that you do not produce a high number of irrelevant results or exclude relevant items. For more information on search filters, be sure to check out our Searching guide for helpful tips. As always, reach out to Library Services with any questions or requests.

References:

Curtin University Library. (2020). Search Filters. Retrieved from https://libguides.library.curtin.edu.au/c.php?g=863554&p=6631322 

Nova Scotia Health Library Services. (2021). Searching. Retrieved from https://library.nshealth.ca/Searching

Amanda Andrews

Librarian Educator
Cape Breton Regional Hospital, Eastern Zone

Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a lot of discussion and debate about preprints. The onset of COVID-19 created an urgent need for rapid and widespread dissemination of scientific research. Sharing research in the form of preprints facilitates this by allowing researchers to release their completed manuscripts immediately and publicly. In this way, preprints have undoubtedly had a huge impact on the way that scientific research is both shared and critiqued. This blog post will revisit preprints: what they are, where to find them, and considerations for consuming preprint content.

What preprints are and where to find them

Preprints are completed manuscripts that have been made available prior to formal peer review or publishing in a scholarly journal. They are primarily posted to preprint servers, sometimes referred to as preprint archives or preprint repositories. Preprint servers are public websites that can be accessed by anyone for free, as opposed to many scholarly journals which are subscription-based and only available for a fee.

Preprint servers allow readers to make public comments, serving as an informal way for authors to gather feedback before their article is published. Some of the major preprint servers include:

• bioRxiv: The Preprint Server for Biology
• medRxiv: The Preprint Server for Health Sciences
• Research Square
• OSF Preprints: Center for Open Science
• SSRN (Social Science Research Network)

PubMed also includes preprints that report on research funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Exercise caution with preprint content

Remember that preprints have not been formally peer reviewed. For example, medRxiv cautions:

Preprints are preliminary reports of work that have not been certified by peer review. They should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information. (medRxiv)

Advantages of preprint sharing

Although consumers must be cautious with preprints, there are also many advantages to sharing research in this form, for both authors and readers:

• Research results can be shared immediately, as opposed to waiting for an article to be formally published in a scholarly journal.
• Preprints posted to public servers are accessible by anyone for free, which can result in more views and citations.
• Preprints are increasingly being integrated into the formal publication process of scholarly journals, meaning that some publishers allow research to be posted publicly as a preprint while it undergoes formal peer review.
• Preprint servers facilitate informal peer review by allowing subject experts and other researchers to give feedback via public comments.

Preprints are an important source of emerging scientific research, particularly for COVID-19-related topics. For more information about preprints and how to search for them, reach out to us at AskLibrary@nshealth.ca or book an online consultation with a Library Services team member.

Kristy Hancock

Librarian Educator

The field of research is vast. Deciding what type of study design to help answer your research question can be complicated. This post will outline what qualitative studies are, when to use them, and most importantly, how to find them in CINAHL Complete and APA PsycInfo®, formerly known as PsycINFO®. 

Qualitative studies are a valuable type of research which tend to be popular in the social sciences because they give insight into people’s behaviour. “Research following a qualitative approach is exploratory and seeks to explain ‘how’ and ‘why’ a particular phenomenon, or behavior, operates as it does in a particular context.” (simplypsychology.org, 2020)

In comparison to quantitative studies, which tend to focus on numeracy and systematic techniques, qualitative studies are directed more towards emotion, observation and opinion. There are several types of qualitative studies, such as focus groups, case studies and observation. 

Finding qualitative studies in CINAHL Complete

Let’s search CINAHL Complete for studies that answer the following research question: ‘How do young people cope with stress?’

1. Start at the Databases A-Z page.
2. Navigate to ‘C’ (by clicking on ‘C’ or simply by scrolling down) and click on CINAHL Complete. If you're connecting from home, you may be prompted to enter your Nova Scotia Health login. This is the same username and password you use to log in to your work email or computer.
3. Using the search bar on the landing page, enter the search terms ‘stress’ and ‘coping.’
4. There are 2 ways to limit results to qualitative studies:

I. In the Search Options, scroll down to Clinical Queries on the right-hand side and select:  

• Qualitative - High Sensitivity, the broadest search. It will include all relevant material, but may also include materials that are less relevant.
  OR
• Qualitative - High Specificity, the most targeted search. It will include only the most relevant result set, but may miss some other relevant materials.
  OR
• Qualitative - Best Balance, will retrieve the best balance between sensitivity and specificity.

II. Scroll down to Publication Type on the right-hand side to choose publication types that use qualitative methods. 

5. Click on the ‘Search’ button at the top and apply filters to the results as needed.

Finding Qualitative Studies in APA PsycInfo®

1. Start at the Databases A-Z page.
2. Navigate to ‘A’ (by clicking on ‘A’ or simply by scrolling down) and click on APA PsycInfo. If connecting from home, you may be prompted to enter your Nova Scotia Health login. This is the same username and password you use to log in to your work email or computer.
3. Using the ‘Advanced Search’, enter the search terms ‘stress’ and ‘coping.’
4. There are 2 ways to limit results to qualitative studies:

I. Scroll down to Methodology, located on the landing page. Select interview, qualitative study, or focus group to limit your results to a particular qualitative study type.

II. You can also use subject terms in the main search bar. Terms used could include qualitative research, grounded theory, interviews and observation methods to narrow your results to qualitative studies.

5. Click on the ‘Search’ button at the top and apply filters to the results as needed.

Qualitative studies can be useful when seeking an understanding of motives, opinions and behaviours. You can also apply these tips when using other databases which allow you to refine results by methodology and publication type.

If you require further info on accessing qualitative studies, be sure to reach out to AskLibrary@nshealth.ca or book a one-on-one-consult with a librarian. We’re here to help!

Amanda Andrews

Librarian Educator
Cape Breton Regional Hospital, Eastern Zone

Sometimes the information you need can’t be found by searching a traditional database like PubMed. ‘Grey literature’ is the term used for documents produced outside of the traditional commercial publishing industry. It includes things like clinical practice guidelines, government reports, dissertations, unpublished clinical trials, policies, statistics, and conference papers or posters. 

Finding grey literature takes time and can be a daunting task. Here are three tips for finding the grey literature you need. 

1. Ask yourself, “Who is likely to produce the information I need?” This will help you determine where to search. For example, if you’re looking for policies on the appropriate use of restraints, check the websites of health districts and authorities, and large hospitals. 

If academic institutions are likely to have done research on your topic, try an institutional repository that includes literature produced by its members. Visit the Canadian Association of Research Libraries or OpenDOAR for lists of repositories. 

If you’re not sure what body might produce the information you want, check out the New York Academy of Medicine’s Grey Literature Publishers List or CADTH’s (Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health) Grey Matters: a practical tool for searching health-related grey literature to narrow it down. 

2. Use Google, but use it effectively. Google can lead you to a wealth of grey literature. Bring relevant results to the top and avoid wading through excess by giving Google very specific directions. Use the fields in Google’s Advanced Search function to limit where it searches (e.g. a specific organization’s website, or sites ending with a certain domain like .gov or .edu) or the format of documents included in the results (e.g. PDF or PowerPoint).  

You can achieve the same results by using Google ‘commands’ in front of the words you type in Google’s search box. Say you’re looking for a report on global immunization rates. You could use the search string “immunization rates” filetype:pdf site:https://www.who.int/ to tell Google to search the World Health Organization’s website (command = site:) for PDF documents (command = filetype:) on the topic.

3. Document your searches. You may have to search multiple places to find what you’re looking for. Using a checklist and tracking sheet will help you to keep track of where you’ve looked and what success you’ve had. It will also serve as a record of your search should you or someone else need to replicate it in the future. For each resource you search, make note of:

• Its name and link/contact information
• Its format (e.g. online repository, abstract/conference resource, clinical trial registry, etc.)
• Details of its coverage breadth (e.g. timeframe, geography, etc.)
• The date the search(es) was carried out
• The total number of results retrieved 
• The number of relevant results

Visit our Grey Literature subject guide for more tips, including starting places for searching for different types of grey literature and detailed guidance on using Google commands. As always, reach out to Library Services if you have questions. 

Lana MacEachern

Library Technician
Aberdeen Regional Hospital, Northern Zone