Library handbook 4 pharmacy

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The following information is designed to be a quick handbook for pharmacy students looking for information at the library. If you have a question that remains unanswered by this handbook, or you need research consultation, please contact Teresa Lee, the pharmacy librarian.

1 Obtaining a library card
2 Accessing library subscription databases, journals and e-books
3 Finding e-books
4 Locating the full text of journal articles
5 Finding clinical practice guidelines
6 Overview of major pharmacy databases
7 Searching major pharmacy databases effectively and efficiently
8 Keeping up to date

Obtaining a library card

UBC Cards (which also function as library cards) can be obtained from the UBC Carding Office, located in the UBC Bookstore. For detailed information on how to get a library card, see the library's info page.

Accessing library subscription databases, journals and e-books

Because most of the library's resources such as databases, journals and e-books are subscription-based (i.e. the library pays hundreds of thousands on these resources each year), you need to authenticate as a UBC user when accessing them from home or from a non-UBC computer.

Currently there are two ways of authenticating, 1) myVPN and 2) EZProxy. MyVPN requires you to change the settings on your computer, whereas EZProxy simply prompts you to log in using your CWL or your library barcode/PIN as you click the link to enter a library resource. For full details on how to set up myVPN and how EZProxy works, see the library's Connect from home page.

Finding e-books

Before you rush out to buy an expensive print copy of a book, it's worthwhile checking to see if the library has it as an e-book. We have classic pharmacy titles such as Drugs in Pregnancy and Lactation (through the Books@Ovid collection), Basic & Clinical Pharmacology (through AccessMedicine) and AHFS (through MedicinesComplete).

e-Books are most often bundled into e-book collections, which can make finding them by individual title slightly tricky. So it's worth knowing about the following major collections and taking some time to familiarize yourself with their contents:

AccessMedicine

Titles include:

• Harrison’s Principles of internal medicine (Harrison’s online)

• Goodman and Gilman’s Pharmacological basis of therapeutics

• Tintinalli’s Emergency medicine

• Lange educational library, including Olson’s Poisoning & drug overdose

Books@Ovid

Titles include:

• Briggs’ Drugs in pregnancy and lactation

• Stockley’s drug interactions

• Martindale’s complete pharmacopoeia

eTherapeutics+

Contents include:

• e-CPS

• Therapeutics: online version of Therapeutic Choices

• Lexi-Interact

Knovel Basic Academic: Click on the "Safety & Industrial Hygiene" link, and then "Toxic Substances" for good toxicology titles.

Titles include:

• Goldfrank’s Toxicologic emergencies

• Casarett and Doull’s Toxicology

• Proctor and Hughes’ Chemical hazards of the workplace

MD Consult

Titles include:

• Cecil Medicine (Textbook of Medicine)

• Harriet Lane Handbook ; Nelson Textbook of pediatrics

• Haddad and Winchester’s Clinical management of poisoning and drug overdose

MedicinesComplete

Currently, this collection has just one e-book, AHFS Drug Information.

STAT!Ref

Titles include:

• AAFP Conditions A to Z (patient-friendly Q&A references on a variety of conditions)

• DSM-IV-TR

• Review of Natural Products • Red Book

• Stedman’s Medical dictionary (under the Resources tab)

But in addition to these popular collections, there are thousands of e-books that can be accessed through the library catalogue. For some basic information on how to find e-books through the catalogue, see: http://www.library.ubc.ca/life/ebooks/

Locating the full text of journal articles

Many articles are available online as e-journal articles.The UBC eLink button takes you from a database record to sources of full text.

In the best case scenario, and this is fairly often, the library has a subscription to the electronic journal and you can view it and print it online.

Sometimes the full text may not be available electronically. For example, the following article in volume 58, issue 21 of the American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy is not available in electronic full text. In this case, your next option is to see if the library has a print copy of the volume/issue of the journal you need:

If the library has a print copy of the issue you need and you're at the location where the journal is held (for e.g. you're on UBC campus and the item is at Woodward Library), then you can find the item and photocopy the article you need.

If the library has a print copy of the issue you need and you're at a different hospital location or campus than library that has the journal (for e.g. you're on UBC campus and the item is at St. Paul's Hospital Library), then you can use the DocDel link in the library record to order a copy of the article.

If UBC library cannot provide either the electronic or print version of the article you need, you can order it through interlibrary loan, which is free to UBC students, faculty and staff. To order an item through ILL, go to: http://elred.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/authenticate_patron.pl?cmd=prompt_patron&SCRIPT=ILL&redirect=http://horsefly.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/borrowing.pl

Finding clinical practice guidelines

British Columbia

Clinical practice guidelines and protocols in British Columbia http://www.bcguidelines.ca/gpac/

Canada

CMA Infobase http://www.cma.ca/clinicalresources/practiceguidelines

The CMA Infobase is a public database of evidence-based clinical practice guidelines (CPGs). Maintained by the Canadian Medical Association, it currently includes over 1200 CPGs developed or endorsed by an authorative medical or health organization in Canada.

North American (and beyond)

National Guideline Clearinghouse http://www.guidelines.gov/

United Kingdom

NICE National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence http://www.nice.org.uk/

SIGN Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network http://www.sign.ac.uk/

TRIP Database: Turning Research Into Practice http://www.tripdatabase.com/about TRIP is an aggregated source that allows you to search many clinical guidelines databases simultaneously.

Overview of major pharmacy databases

The library provides many databases that are potential relevant to finding pharmaceutical information. The following table outlines the major recommended sources: This table is also available as a Word document that you can edit.

Searching major pharmacy databases effectively and efficiently

In daily practice, whether to remain current on pharmacotherapeutic developments or in order to answer patient-specific clinical questions, pharmacists are finding themselves searching for evidence-based information.

The following handout contains tips on how to effectively search the pharmacy-related literature and is aimed at those who already have a basic understanding of search principles and how to use common indexes and databases such as Embase or Pubmed.

For a review of the basics, see the Medline OvidSP Tutorial, a series of short modules on the fundamentals of database searching. Please note that although these modules are based on an older version of the OvidSP platform, the content remains valid.

Keeping up to date

There are numerous ways to keep up to date with current literature, including subscribing to electronic bulletins and newsletters, setting up RSS feeds for tables of contents from key journals, creating alerts for specific database searches, and participating in a journal club. Here are some ideas for you to explore as you customize your strategy for keeping abreast of current evidence. (Content for this wiki section has been adapted from Janice Moshenko’s November 2007 presentation to CAPS 4.)

Bulletins, newsletters, etc.

Colllege of Pharmacists of BC:

http://www.bcpharmacists.org

British Columbia Pharmacy Association – The Tablet:

http://www.bcpharmacy.ca/about-bcpha/default.htm

member access only, but students can become members for free

UBC Continuing Education Professional Development:

http://www.pharmacy.ubc.ca/cppd/

Canadian Pharmacists Letter:

http://www.canadianpharmacistsletter.com

member access

Therapeutics Letter (UBC Therapeutics Initiative):

http://www.ti.ubc.ca/TherapeuticsLetter

The Therapeutics Education Collaboration offers entertaining and informative podcasts. Episode 40 deals with keeping up to date with the medical literature.

Medical Letter:

http://www.medletter.com/