This asynchronous course is designed to teach public health professionals and librarians to use PubMed, HSRProj, and MedlinePlus to find reliable health information and data related to population health and Healthy People 2020. This course is geared toward basic/beginner users of MedlinePlus, PubMed, and HSRProj.
PubMed is a free resource developed and maintained by the National Library of Medicine (NLM). PubMed gives free access to MEDLINE, NLM’s bibliographic database of citations and abstracts, currently from approximately 5,600 biomedical journals published in the United States and worldwide. Coverage extends back to 1946 with over 27 million citations.
HSRPROJ (Health Services Research Projects in Progress) is a database providing access to ongoing grants and contracts in health services research. Entries in this database cover both grants and contracts awarded by major public and private funding agencies and foundations. You can retrieve names of performing and sponsoring agencies, names and addresses of the principal investigator, beginning and ending years of the project, and information about study design and methodology. The records are indexed with NLM’s Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms.
MedlinePlus is the National Library of Medicine’s web site for consumer health information. The site offers links to free authoritative and up-to-date health information, A Spanish-language version is also available. MedlinePlus includes information on health topics, drugs and supplements, and current health news.
Course Content:
1. Population Health and Healthy People 2020
2. MedlinePlus: Supporting the Public With Easy-to-Read Consumer Health Information
3. An Introduction to PubMed: Finding Peer-Reviewed and Evidence-Based Public Health Articles
4. Looking for Trends and Partners for Health Services Research with HSRProj
5. Scenario Practices
Dates: August 1 – August 31
Cost: Free