AHP Return to Practice: Subject databases

CINAHL Ultimate is a database from EBSCO which primarily covers nursing, 17 allied health disciplines (e.g. occupational therapy, physiotherapy, paramedicine), biomedicine and public health literature. Types of information include journal articles, book chapters, conference proceedings and evidence-based care sheets.

MEDLINE is a database from EBSCO produced by the U.S. National Library of Medicine and primarily covers biomedical, health, behavioural and life sciences literature. This is the paid for version of another database, PubMed. Types of information include journal articles, book chapters and conference proceedings.

PEDro is a physiotherapy-specific database which specialises in experimental design research (quantitative data).

The way to search PEDro is slightly different to other databases you might be more familiar with. For example, you can either use the drop-down fields in the menu to choose appropriate selections or you can perform a simple keyword search in the Abstract & Title field. 

Cochrane Library is a collection of databases which contain different types of high-quality, independent evidence to inform healthcare decision-making and is used mainly in nursing.

The databases include Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR), Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), Cochrane Methodology Register (CMR), Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE), Health Technology Assessment Database (HTA), NHS Economic Evaluation Database (EED), and a seventh database that provides information about Cochrane groups: About The Cochrane Collaboration.

Scopus indexes articles from thousands of journals in the sciences and social sciences, including conference proceedings.  Scopus provides useful search tools and citation searching tools.