Health Services Management Centre School of Social Policy
“Once you have experienced the library you won't want to be without it” Chris Ham, Professor of Health Policy, HSMC & Chief Executive of the King’s Fund
Access a Goldmine of Information HSMC Library & Information Services Park House 40 Edgbaston Park Road Edgbaston Birmingham, B15 2RT
A Guide to HMIC
Tel 0121 414 3672/7060
Fax 0121 414 7051
Email hsmc-library@contacts.bham.ac.uk
Web site www.hsmc.bham.ac.uk/library
Ask a Librarian! Message us for an instant answer
RSS alert Subscribe to the Library’s RSS feed
Facebook Be the Library’s fan on Facebook
Twitter Follow us on Twitter
Skype account hsmclibrary
The Library Staff Rachel Posaner (Manager) Ann Evans (Librarian) Lucy Kelly (Library Assistant)
Opening Times www.hsmc.bham.ac.uk/library
Library Training Materials: If you require this information in an alternative format (i.e. large print), please contact the Library staff who will make the necessary arrangements
Contents 1.
What is HMIC? ................................................................................................ 1
2. What does the HMIC database include? ............................................................... 1 3. How do you access HMIC? ................................................................................. 2 3.1 Via the HSMC Library website ......................................................................... 2 3.2 Via the University eLibrary ............................................................................. 2 3.3 Via NHS Evidence .......................................................................................... 3 4. How do you search HMIC? ................................................................................. 3 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5
Truncation ................................................................................................... 3 Searching HMIC using Subject Headings ......................................................... 3 Boolean Operators ........................................................................................ 4 Combining Searches ..................................................................................... 4 Focusing/Limiting a Search ............................................................................. 5
5. How to Save the Results .................................................................................... 5 5.1 Printing, Saving, &, Emailing References .......................................................... 6 6. Additional Search Features ................................................................................. 6 6.1 Keyword Searching........................................................................................ 6 7. Help ................................................................................................................ 7
1. What is HMIC? The Health Management Information Consortium or HMIC database is a bibliographic database which will help you find references to journal articles in the health management or health policy subject area. This database combines 2 separately produced databases. These are the Department of Health Library and King's Fund Library & Information Services databaseand the Nuffield Institute for Health's HELMIS database which was closed in 1998. HMIC uses the OVID software (users of Medline and CINAHL may be familiar with this) which has a number of key features: Powerful search tools using subject headings and/or text words Variety of limit options to make your results more relevant Print, save or email results Save/re-run searches and auto-alerting to keep up-to-date with new research Results easily imported into reference management software packages such as EndNote, Reference Manager or RefWorks. With Reference Manager you will need to import the Ovid Web filter from http://www.refman.com/support/rmfilters-terms.asp. 2. What does the HMIC database include? HMIC includes bibliographic references often with abstracts, journal articles, books, reports, government documents, and, grey literature all focusing on health policy and management information and includes topics such as: NHS Management Public Health Nursing Social Policy International Health Systems Updated Wednesday, 02 June 2010
1
Health Economics Quality of Health Care Evidence-based Health Remember References listed in HMIC are not necessarily held by either the HSMC library or by the Main Library. When you have collected your references from the database, you will need to check the HSMC website, the e-library or the NHS Evidence website to see where a particular journal is available. 3. How do you access HMIC? 3.1 Via the HSMC Library website To access HMIC from the library‟s homepage go to the HSMC Library website at: http://www.hsmc.bham.ac.uk/Library. From here select the options „Electronic resources‟ and then „Databases‟. Chose the „All users‟ option and log in using the Library log in that is available from the Library staff. 3.2 Via the University eLibrary Go to http://www.elibrary.bham.ac.uk/ Enter your University ID and Password. If you do not have these details please contact a member of the helpdesk on: 0121 414 7171. Once you have entered the correct username and password you will be taken to the following screen where you can search for HMIC under the tab „Find Resource„.
Once you have done this, click on the „HMIC link„and you will be taken to the following list of OVID databases. Just click on „HMIC Health Management Information Consortium„and you will go into the database.
Updated Wednesday, 02 June 2010
2
3.3 Via NHS Evidence Go to the HSMC Library website at: http://www.hsmc.bham.ac.uk/Library. From here select the options „Electronic resources‟ and then „Databases‟. Chose the „NHS employees‟ option and log in using your NHS Athens password. 4. How do you search HMIC? Please note: the rest of this guide will not apply to the interface seen on NHS Evidence as they use a different provider. For help with this interface please use the guide provided on NHS Evidence. You should now see the following screen, from which you can start searching.
4.1 Truncation Think of synonyms/keywords/concepts that you might wish to use and where you may be able to use truncation. This is the use of the symbol „$‟ which enables you to capture all relevant material on a topic by searching for words/phrases, which use the same root e.g. A search on „care trust$‟ will bring up references including; Care trust, care trusts etc. Group your keywords into concepts relating to your search topic. For instance in the example used in this guide we are going to do a search to look for information on “quality in hospitals”. The 2 concepts used are therefore „Quality‟ and „Hospitals‟. Examples of keywords/synonyms that you may wish to include might be: Concept 1:
Concept 2:
Quality Quality assurance Quality improvement
Hospital Hospitals NHS Trusts
4.2 Searching HMIC using Subject Headings A good place to start is to put in a search term which is mapped to a „subject heading‟. For example, if you type the word „Quality‟, in the search box, followed by a click on „Map term to subject heading‟, you will then be taken to a list of all descriptors Updated Wednesday, 02 June 2010
3
(subject headings). You can then select which all of the terms which you think are relevant and want to use, by ticking boxes at the left hand side of the terms. Now click on „continue‟.
You will then be taken back to the main search page (see below) where you results are displayed. Once you have searched for all terms around the topic area of „quality‟ you can then do a new search for our second concept i.e. hospitals. Put in the word „hospitals‟ and keep it ticked on „Map Term to Subject Heading‟. Then click on „continue‟
Again, you can go through and tick off all of the relevant terms which will automatically be linked by the Boolean operator „or‟ when you click on ‘continue‟.
If at this stage you want to look at any of the retrieved references just click on the ‘Display‟ button on the right hand side. 4.3 Boolean Operators To combine subject terms and produce well focused searches the Boolean Operators „OR‟ and „AND‟ can be used. The ‟OR‟ button is used to find those references which contain ANY of the terms that have been searched. The ‘AND‟ button is used to find those references which include ALL of the terms that have been searched. 4.4 Combining Searches To combine the searches in the example used here, i.e. Searches 1 and 2 you have to select the searches and combine them using the Boolean Operator „AND‟. You will then
Updated Wednesday, 02 June 2010
4
end up with a set of approx 546 references. The set of references found includes both concepts of the search (see below).
Below are some examples of the references retrieved.
4.5 Focusing/Limiting a Search In order to focus a search further you can add new/other subject terms or, can by limit them e.g. by publication year, publication type etc. To do this, just click on the „Additional Limits‟ button on the main search page and choose how you want to limit your search. In the example shown limits have been set to retrieve references published in 2008. There should now be a more manageable number of references. 5. How to Save the Results Emailing your results is both quick and easy and is the best option to use if there are only a few records that you wish to retain. If you want to retain the results of larger searches, it may be best to select the „save‟ option whereby you can save the results onto either your memory stick and/or export them to software such as Reference Manager. Once you have chosen your preferred option, you will be prompted to specify which records you wish to retain - either all records in the current search, a specified number, or, just those which you have marked. If you chose to email your results you will be prompted for your email address and given the option to type in some description in the „MAIL Subject‟ box as below. This is a useful option if you intend to do more than one search.
Updated Wednesday, 02 June 2010
5
5.1 Printing, Saving, &, Emailing References Once you have looked at the records and retrieved and selected those that you wish to retain, you can decide on your preferred method of retaining the results. You can print, download or email the results by selecting the appropriate button. Just scroll down the screen and you will come to the „Results Manager‟ options, as below.
In this example we have chosen to email all of the records from the current search. Fill in your email address and the box and make sure that you click on the “include search history” button as it is often useful to be able to go back and remind yourself which terms you searched. Then click on the „Send Email‟ button.
6. Additional Search Features HMIC is very flexible in that it allows you to be as specific or as broad as you like when searching for information. Options include: 6.1 Keyword Searching This is where the search words appear anywhere within the title or abstract of a record. This is a really useful feature which enables you to search more widely and systematically. Keyword searching is very useful when looking for more obscure concepts and phrases, which may not have made it into the „subject headings‟ list assigned by the indexers.
Updated Wednesday, 02 June 2010
6
For example in the search below by search for the phrase „quality outcomes‟ did not appear as a Subject Heading, however I was still able to select it as a keyword i.e. where the phrase occurs in the title or abstract of a reference.
You can also search for specific authors, titles, or journals by ticking the appropriate box. In the example below I have searched for references by the author “Jon Glasby” by just entering the term „Glasby‟ and ticking the „Author‟ box.
7. Help Finally, if you require any further help with using HMIC there are facilities at hand by selecting the „Help‟ button from the top right hand side of main search screen. You will then be offered a wide range of help tips aimed at both novice and experienced users
Updated Wednesday, 02 June 2010
7