User Guide
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About GHI
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Glasgow resources
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Quick Links
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Browse the database
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Search the database
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Record Display
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NHS Scotland e-Library
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Nominate A Site
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Selection Criteria
About GHI
Glasgow Health Information (GHI) is a central portal which aims to provide equity of access to high quality health information and learning resources. While focusing primarily on the needs of NHS Glasgow staff and students at present, GHI is also available to support the work of the wider health care community. Wherever possible, GHI resources are freely accessible by patients and the general public, however it also enables access to a large number of subscription resources only available to NHS Glasgow staff.
Glasgow Resources
The Glasgow Resources menu on the home page allows you to browse lists of resources and organisations which are based or created in Glasgow or which have a Glasgow focus. The following Glasgow specific categories are available for browsing:
- NHS Glasgow Resources
- NHS Scotland e-Library
- Glasgow Library Services
- Learning Centres
- Glasgow City Council Organisations
- Glasgow Higher Education Organisations
- Glasgow Voluntary Organisations
Quick Links
The Quick Links section on the home page allows you to navigate quickly to websites belonging to the following 5 key resource types:
- Databases
- Journals
- Books
- Guidelines
- Medicines Information
Browse the database
Resources in the GHI database can be accessed by browsing via the following methods:
These Browse options are available from the left hand menu bar on the home page beneath the Browse By heading, or by clicking Browse on the horizontal navigation bar on each page which takes you to a page containing all browse options. Browse by Resource Type is presented on this page as the default Browse option.
a) Browse By Resource Type
Each resource in the GHI database is classified as belonging to a Resource Type category. You can browse by Resource Type to access a particular type of resource, for example if you are only interested in electronic books you would browse the Books Resource Type. Each Resource Type also contains a number of Sub Resource Types. When browsing by Resource Type, records are displayed in Sub Resource Type order and a jump box allows you to navigate to the different Sub Resource Types in the page.
Below is a complete list of Resource Types, with their Sub Resource Types, allocated to records in the GHI database.
| Resource Type | Sub Resource Type |
| Articles |
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| Books |
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| Conference proceedings |
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| Databases |
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| Discussion lists and newsgroups | |
| e-Learning resources |
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| Evidence-based medicine resources | |
| Government information |
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| Guidelines |
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| Journals |
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| Library and information services |
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| Medicines information | |
| News |
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| NHS information |
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| Patient information |
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| Professional associations and societies | |
| Reference materials |
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| Reports | |
| Research projects/Centres | |
| Software and tools |
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| Standards and patents |
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| Statistical Resources | |
| Theses |
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| Universities and colleges |
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| Voluntary sector organisations | |
| Web navigation tools |
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| Miscellaneous |
b) Browse by Subject (MeSH)
Each record in the GHI database is allocated one or more subject descriptors taken from the MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) Thesaurus. You can browse through these subject descriptors to find records relating to particular topics, subjects or disciplines. There are 2 methods of browsing by subject:
- Alphabetical subject browsing. This method allows you to browse through an alphabetical list of subject descriptors. Cross-referencing is in place to allow you to find the correct terms. An alphabetical anchor bar allows you to navigate between letters.
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Hierarchical subject browsing. As an alternative to alphabetic browsing, you can browse hierarchically by subject. This method can be reached via the Browse by Hierarchical Subject link adjacent to the the Alphabetical Subject default. This method allows you to browse hierarchically from a broad subject heading, and in turn "drill down" (by clicking the plus sign to the left of the broad subject heading) to narrower subject descriptors which feature in the broad subject heading's "tree". The example below shows you the complete list of Broad Subject Headings, with narrower subject descriptors displayed for the first heading in the list. The numbers to the right of the subject descriptors refer to the number of records which bear that descriptor.
Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic techniques and equipment
Anesthesia and analgesia (17)
analgesia (2)
anesthesia (14)
anesthesia and analgesia (1)
Dentistry (1)
Diagnosis (30)
Equipment and supplies (7)
Investigative techniques (41)
Surgical procedures, operative (6)
Therapeutics (65)
Anatomy
Anthropology, education, sociology and social phenomena
Biological sciences
Chemicals and drugs
Diseases
Geographic locations
Health care
Humanities
Information science
Organisms
Persons
Physical sciences
Psychiatry and psychology
Technology and food and beverages Each subject descriptor in the hierarchy is a link which takes you to a list of records which have been allocated that particular heading. In this way you can browse broadly by subject or choose to narrow down to more specific subject descriptors relating to the broad subject. Please note that some subject descriptors may appear under more than one broad heading but relate to different records - this is due to the "polyhierarchal" structure of the MeSH thesaurus.
c) Browse by Disease
Browsing by Disease allows you to browse for websites relating to specific diseases and conditions. Similar to the hierarchical subject browse option, it allows you to browse through a number of broad disease categories and "drill down" (by clicking the plus sign to the left of the broad disease category) to narrower disease topics in the hierarchy. The example below shows you the complete list of broad disease categories, with narrower disease topics displayed for the first one on the list. The numbers to the right of the disease topics refer to the number of records which have been allocated that topic.
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Bacterial infections and mycoses |
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communicable diseases (6) |
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infection (1) |
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Sexually Transmitted Diseases (1) |
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tuberculosis (1) |
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Cardiovascular diseases |
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Digestive system diseases |
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Disorders of environmental origin |
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Endocrine diseases |
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Eye diseases |
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Female genital diseases and pregnancy complications |
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Hemic and lymphatic diseases |
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Immunologic diseases |
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Mental disorders |
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Musculoskeletal diseases |
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Neonatal diseases and abnormalities |
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Neoplasms |
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Nervous system diseases |
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Nutritional and metabolic diseases |
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Otorhinolaryngologic diseases |
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Pathological conditions, signs and symptoms |
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Respiratory tract diseases |
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Skin and connective tissue diseases |
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Stomatognathic diseases |
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Urologic and male genital diseases |
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Virus diseases |
d) Browse by Health Profession
Browsing by Health Profession allows you to browse for resources aimed at particular health occupations or professions. For example, if you only wanted to access resources judged by our cataloguers to be aimed at nurses, you would click on the Nurses and Midwives link. The browse by Health Profession feature should only be used to locate resources which are specifically targeted at particular occupational groups, and not generic resources targeted at all occupational groups. The full list of browsable health professions are as follows:
- Dental
- Health Promotion
- Library and Information Service (LIS) staff
- Management
- Medical
- Nurses and Midwives
- Pharmacy
- Professions Allied to Medicine (PAMs)
- Public Health
- Scientific and Support
- Service Support
Search the database
The following search options are available:
a) Simple Search
Simple Search can be accessed from the search box on the Home Page, or by clicking on Search on the horizontal menu bar and choosing the Simple Search option. Simple Search allows you to do a free-text search of the database. The Home Page Simple Search feature provides two drop-down boxes to allow you to limit your results by Resource Type or Health Profession - select more than one option from the list by holding down the CTRL key and clicking. (Note : in some browsers, you cannot make multiple selections in a list box using the traditional method of pressing the Ctrl key and the Spacebar. A workaround has been discovered for this problem. Press Tab to move into the list box. Press Shift + F8 to move into Multi-Select mode. Then you can use the UP and Down Arrow keys to move through the list, and use the Spacebar to make your selections. Press Shift + F8 again when you are finished.) The Simple Search feature accessible from the horizontal menu bar offers you these same limiter options as well as a third option which allows you to limit by Sector of Origin. For both Simple Search features, a tick-box is also available to provide you with the option of limiting your results to Glasgow resources only.
Search Tips
- Enter a word or a phrase into the search box and click Go to find resources which match your criteria.
- If entering more than one word into the search box, please be careful to enter a known term or phrase, e.g. heart attack, rather than two or more unconnected or loosely connected words. This is because the GHI search engine looks for "strings" of text, automatically "anding" your search terms and applying adjacency to them, i.e. it will look only for resources which contain all your search terms in the order in which you have entered them, e.g. heart attack will find all resources containing the phrase or string heart attack, but will not locate resources containing only heart or only attack or which contain the words heart and attack in separate areas of the resource record or which appear in a different order.
- Truncation searching: The "string" feature also means that the GHI search engine automatically truncates your search criteria, i.e. heart will find all resources containing the word or string heart - this might include hearts, heart attack, heartache, hearth etc.
- If you don't find a resource which interests you, or find that you are retrieving too many records using the Simple Search function, try using the Subject Search or Advanced Search functions, which will allow you to do more focussed and accurate searching.
b) Subject Search
Subject Search can be accessed by clicking on Search on the horizontal menu bar and choosing the Subject Search option. Subject Search utilises the controlled MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) vocabulary to allow you to do much more accurate searching and improve the quality and quantity of your search results.
Search Tips
- To carry out a Subject Search, choose up to 3 subject terms from the drop-down lists available
- To help you choose the correct MeSH term for your query, click on the Map to MeSH terms link, where you can find the correct MeSH term for a number of common,non-medical and non-US language terms. e.g. the common term "stroke" maps to the MeSH term "cerebrovascular accident"
- Combine your subject terms with the Boolean operators AND or OR e.g. neoplasms AND aged will combine the terms to locate all resources relating to cancers in older people; neoplasms OR aged will locate all resources on cancer as well as all resources on older people, in addition to all resources relating to cancers in older people
- Please note when combining more than 2 terms with Boolean operators that the Boolean operator combination order is the order in which they appear. This means that the first 2 subject terms are combined leading to a result which is then combined with the third subject term as a single entity. This may have implications for entry order when searching for resources which combine concepts. To make this easier to understand, imagine a set of brackets between your first 2 term search string, e.g. if you were looking for information on cardiovascular diseases and cancer in older people, you would enter (cardiovascular diseases OR neoplasms) AND aged, NOT (aged AND cardiovascular diseases) OR neoplasms - the latter would locate all resources relating to cardiovascular diseases in older people and all resources relating to cancer generally.
- Use the Resource Type, Sector of Origin and Health Profession drop-down boxes to limit your search results if desired - hold down the CTRL key and click to choose more than one option from the lists
- Use the Glasgow Resources Only tick-box to limit your results to resources derived from Glasgow
c) Advanced Search
Advanced Search can be accessed by clicking on Search on the horizontal menu bar and choosing the Advanced Search option. Advanced Search allows you to search for up to 3 words or phrases which appear in specific fields in the database and to combine them using the Boolean operators AND and OR.
Search Tips
- Choose a specific field to search in using the Field drop-down list and enter your search word or phrase in the Contains box adjacent
- If entering more than one word into the search box, please be careful to enter a known term or phrase, e.g. heart attack, rather than two or more unconnected or loosely connected words. This is because the GHI search engine looks for "strings" of text, automatically "anding" your search terms and applying adjacency to them, i.e. it will look only for resources which contain all your search terms in the order in which you have entered them, e.g. heart attack will find all resources containing the phrase or string heart attack, but will not locate resources containing only heart or only attack or which contain the words heart and attack in separate areas of the resource record or which appear in a different order.
- Truncation searching: The "string" feature also means that the GHI search engine automatically truncates your search criteria, i.e. heart will find all resources containing the word or string heart - this might include hearts, heart attack, heartache, hearth etc.
- Combine your search criteria with up to 2 further sets of search criteria by using the AND, OR Boolean drop-down box
- Please note that the order of Boolean logic is the order of entry, i.e the first 2 sets of search criteria are combined before combining with the third set of search criteria. See note on Subject Search above.
- Limit your search results using the Resource Type, Health Profession and Sector of Origin drop-down boxes - hold down the CTRL key and click to choose more than one option from the lists
- Use the Glasgow Resources Only tick-box to limit your results to resources derived from Glasgow
If a Search Fails
In the event of a failed search, i.e. the GHI search engine retrieves no records which match your search criteria, a page will be displayed informing you that your search has failed and you will be asked to modify your search parameters. Alternatively you are offered the option to search using the BIOME biomedical science gateways - external links to these are offered via a drop-down list. As a final option you are offered the chance to search the World Wide Web using the Google® search engine - your search criteria which will automatically be inserted into the Google search box in the failed search page and by clicking on the Google Search button your search will be submitted to Google (new window will open).
d) Web Search
Web Search allows you to search the pages of the World Wide Web using Google®. Access this feature by clicking on Search on the horizontal menu bar and choosing the Web Search option. This facility offers you the option of searching the web in its entirety or limiting your search to the web domains of selected Glasgow NHS and Higher Education establishments.
e) Saving Searches
To save your search results for later browsing or future reference, click
on the Save Search link which appears at the top
of the search results page. This will take you to a Save Search form which
contains your search criteria. Enter a name for your search and click on the
Save button. This process will place a cookie on
your computer which will “remember” your search results the next
time you wish to view them. Cookies need to be enabled on your browser for
this process to work. This means that saved searches can only be retrieved
on the same computer from which you originally saved them.
Retrieving and Deleting Saved Searches
To retrieve a saved search, click on Search on
the horizontal menu bar which appears on each page, and choose Retrieve
Search from the list of options which appears. A list of your saved
searches will appear. To open a saved search, click on the search name. To
delete a saved search, click on the Delete Search
link which appears to the right of the search name. It is recommended that
you delete your saved searches when you are finished with them, as the cookie
placed on your machine when you save a search can only “remember”
a limited amount of saved data.
Record Display
a) Sort order
Regardless of the search or browse option you choose to employ, records are displayed in the same hierarchical arrangement. At the top level, records are sorted by Resource Type and Sub Resource Type - a jump menu at the top of each page allows you to jump to different resource types corresponding to your search or browse criteria. Records are then sorted by geographical origin - Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom, United States, Europe and Worldwide respectively. Beneath this last sub-level, records are sorted alphabetically.
b) Summary and detailed display
Summary Display
By default, records are displayed in summary format, i.e. the following information is displayed for each record:
- Title of resource (containing a hyperlink to external site)
- Description of resource truncated to 200 characters
- URL of resource
- Geographical Location of resource
- Authentication (i.e. is the resource username and password protected, or IP restricted?)
- Hyperlinked Subject Descriptors (i.e. they allow you to browse for further records which have been allocated the same subject descriptor)
Detailed Display
For each record, a detailed version can be viewed by clicking on the View Details link which appears to the right of the title field in the Summary Display. Detailed Display allows you to view the following information for each record:
- Title of resource (containing a hyperlink to external site)
- Full description of resource
- Subject descriptors
- Creator of resource
- Publisher of resource
- Resource type
- Format
- Sector of origin
- Access policies
- Authentication
- Health profession audience
- Country of origin
Within detailed display, you can navigate back to the summary by clicking on Summary to the right of the title field.
NHS Scotland e-Library
The NHS Scotland e-Library aims to empower NHS Scotland staff and benifit patient care by providing high quality knowledge support throughout the patient journey. It is the primary vehicle for the delivery of NHS Education's national strategy for NHS Scotland. Click on the NHS Scotland e-Library link on the home page to get quick access to a wide range of key sources of evidence-based healthcare information, including electronic journals, electronic books, databases, tables of content and article abstracts, and current awareness and alerting services.
See the NHS Scotland e-Library site for complete details of resources available and for a user guide.
All e-Library books and databases are marked within the GHI Gateway search
results with the e-library logo
Nominate A Site
Sites can be nominated for inclusion in GHI using the Nominate a Site form which can be accessed by clicking on the corresponding link on the horizontal menu bar. You will be asked to enter the details of the site for nomination, including its name, its URL and a short review explaining why you particularly like the site and why it should be included in GHI. Your nomination will be assessed by the GHI editors, and if it fulfils the GHI Selection Criteria, it will be included in the site and may appear in the Website of the Week feature.
Selection Criteria
The following criteria will be applied to selection of Websites for the Glasgow Health Information Gateway. Sites added to GHI should fulfil the majority of the following requirements:
1.) Authorship / Authority
Who has authored the site, and how can it be checked?
Use the URL to ascertain the source of the site - is it affiliated with an
official body?
Use the "linked to" function provided by AltaVista and Google search
engines - do other reputable sites link to this one as a useful source of
information?
If claims are made about professional status, are these accompanied by links
to a professional body?
Are official logos in use on the site?
Does the site subscribe to the HON code and display its logo?
Are their hyperlinks or references to allow any claims to be backed up and
to provide extra information on the subject being discussed?
Is the site sponsored or funded by an interested party eg a commercial organisation,
and if so is this interest declared openly?
Look carefully for evidence that such sponsorship might be "skewing"
the information provided?
2.) Currency
When was the site created?
Are there dates clearly displayed - preferably on every page - about when
the site was created or updated?
Is the information more than a few months old?
How likely is the age of the information to affect its accuracy?
Is there any policy statement about how often the site is updated?
3.) Context
Who is the intended audience?
Are there appropriate disclaimers about the scope of the information (especially
if it is intended for the general public?)
Are there links to other resources to allow the information to be seen in
a wider context?
In general, UK, Scottish and Glasgow sites to be preferred over US or European
sites.
4.) Clarity
Is the information well presented and laid out?
Does it use appropriate language?
Does the use of colour, font, graphics etc make the information more attractive
and easy to use or is it distracting and confusing?
Does the site use frames and can it be used without them (frames can make
sites more difficult to navigate for disabled users)
Is it easy to navigate the site?
Is there an option to return to the homepage on each page?
Is there a site map link and is it located in a prominent position?
References:
Silberg, W.M., Lundberg, G.D. and Musacchio, R. A. Assessing, controlling and assuring the quality of medical information on the Internet. JAMA 1997 (277): 1244-1245
Health on the Net Foundation. HON Code of Conduct for medical and health Websites. Jan 2000. http://www.hon.ch/HONcode/Conduct.html (checked 29/1/02)
BIOME Factors affecting the quality of an information source. Dec 2000. http://biome.ac.uk/guidelines/eval/factors.html (checked 29/1/02)
QUICK (Quality Information Checklist) http://www.quick.org.uk (checked 29/1/02)
DISCERN (British Library tool for Evaluation of Patient Information) http://www.discern.org.uk/ (checked 8/3/01)
Thanks to Seona Reid, Postgraduate Student, Library and Information Science,
Strathclyde University, for her work on the above.
© Greater Glasgow NHS Board 2002 Rights
and Disclaimer. Last Updated :
06/11/2006
This resource could not have been produced without the work of the Glasgow
Health Information Group