Healthcare Information: Articles & Databases

Boston Public Library
An eCard is a Boston Public Library card that you can sign up for online, and which provides access to all online resources, including OverDrive and Hoopla.

Once you have your BPL library card, click below to gain access to the articles available in the databases. This will take you directly to the page for Health Search.

Health
The databases available from the Boston Public Library are listed on this page by subject, and include access to images and periodical indexes.

Listed below are other resources that may be of use to your searching needs. If at any time you need assistance with your research, please contact a reference librarian by using our Ask a Librarian form, or by calling the reference desk at 508.678.2811, ext. 2108.

Google Scholar (Coverage Varies)
Multi-disciplinary index to peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, abstracts, and other scholarly literature. Includes the full-text of publications freely available on the web and citations for materials published by commercial publishers. Stronger coverage in the sciences. Results are ranked by Google's determination of relevance.

Databases are basically a collection of data arranged for ease and speed of search and retrieval.  Databases use the search terms you provide to search the journals within their collection for articles that have those terms either in the article or in the subject to come up with a list of results. 

How you find what you are looking for sometimes feels a lot like luck.  Most databases now take their searching premise from Google - one searchbox that uses natural language. 

Nothing can take the place of the reference interview - but if time is limited, we have organized some of our best allied health databases that will help you locate the infomation you need to complete your assignments. 

Simply click on the link - if logging in from home type in your activated BCC Campus card when prompted - and type in your search terms.  If you need assistance, contact the Reference Desk at 508-678-2811 x2108.  We will be glad to help you.

Health & Medicine (Gale) (1980-Present)
This multi-source database integrates the full text and images of respected nursing, allied health and medical journals; consumer health magazines; newsletters; pamphlets; newspaper articles; topical overviews; and reference books. Most of these sources provide the full text of the article/chapter. Find articles on: fitness, pregnancy, medicine, nutrition, diseases, public health, occupational health and safety, alcohol and drug abuse, HMOs, prescription drugs, etc

Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition (1975-Present)
Provides access to nearly 550 scholarly full text journals. Also featured are abstracts and indexing for nearly 850 journals. In addition, this database includes Clinical Pharmacology, which provides access to up-to-date, concise and clinically relevant drug monographs for all U.S. prescription drugs, hard-to-find herbal and nutritional supplements, over-the-counter products and new drugs.

Biomedical Reference Collection: Basic (1985-Present)
Medical database providing full text for over 100 journals, including full text for many peer-reviewed, scholarly publications. (Some titles have indexing and abstracts only for earlier years.) Virtually every area of medical study is covered, including clinical medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, the health care system and the pre-clinical sciences. All titles included in this database are also indexed in MEDLINE, with a link from the MEDLINE article to the article in this database if Biomedical Reference Collection has the full text article.

MEDLINE
MEDLINE provides authoritative medical information on medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, the health care system, pre-clinical sciences, and much more. Created by the National Library of Medicine, MEDLINE allows users to search citations and abstracts from over 4,800 current biomedical journals.

CINAHL (1982-Present)
This database provides indexing for over 2,818 journals from the fields of nursing and allied health, including nursing, biomedicine, health sciences librarianship, alternative/complementary medicine, consumer health and 17 allied health disciplines. Full text material includes more than 70 journals plus legal cases, clinical innovations, critical paths, drug records, research instruments and clinical trials. Also offers access to health care books, nursing dissertations, selected conference proceedings, standards of practice, educational software, audiovisuals and book chapters.

CINAHL Plus with Full Text
Providing full text for more than 760 journals indexed in CINAHL. Of those, 456 are not found with full text in any version of Academic Search™, Health Source® or Nursing & Allied Health Collection™. This authoritative file contains full text for many of the most used journals in the CINAHL index - with no embargo.

Credo Reference: Medicine
Full text database of articles from 24+ reference books covering medicine; includes audio files, images, and maps.
 

Information Science OneFile (Gale) (1980-Present)
Information Science contains valuable content for library science students, information science students, technology professionals, and others. Information Science is updated daily with articles covering all aspects of managing and maintaining information and technology, including usability, cataloging, circulation, business information, and more.

Academic Search Complete
Designed for academic institutions, this database is a leading resource for scholarly research. It supports high-level research in the key areas of academic study by providing journals, periodicals, reports, books and more.