Grateful Med is a means of accessing MEDLINE, an  index to journal articles in medicine and related fields (e.g. dentistry, veterinary medicine, and clinical psychology).  A number of specialized medical databases can also be accessed. Grateful Med is available both on and off campus.

See also the guide to PubMed, which is another means of accessing MEDLINE. PubMed is easier to use and offers more advanced search commands, but it does not cover all of the specialized databases.

Access:

• Click on Netscape.
• If not in the Library, go to the Library Home Page (http://www.lib.wsc.ma.edu/index.html)
• Click on Grateful Med, which is listed under Quick Links to Databases.
• Alternatively, go directly to the Grateful Med website (http://igm.nlm.nih.gov/).

Note: the search techniques described in this guide are based on the MEDLINE database.  Some of them are not available in the other databases.

Select one of the databases listed on the left of the Grateful Med home page:

• MEDLINE (1966 to date): An index to articles in medicine and related disciplines
• AIDSLINE (1980 to date): References on acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).
• AIDSDRUGS (current): Agents currently being evaluated in the AIDS research.
• AIDSTRIALS (current): Clinical trials of substances being tested for use against AIDS.
• BIOETHICSLINE (1973 to date): References on the ethical, legal and public policy issues.
• ChemID (current): A dictionary of compounds of biomedical and regulatory interest.
• DIRLINE (current): A directory of institutions providing health information services..
• HealthSTAR (1975 to date): References on health care planning and administration.
• HISTLINE (1964 to date): References on the history of medicine.
• HSRPROJ (current): A directory of health research projects in progress.
• OLDMEDLINE (1960-65): An index to older journal articles.
• POPLINE (1970 to date): References on population and health in developing countries.
• SDILINE (current): References from the most recent complete month of Medline.
• SPACELINE (1961 to date): References on space life sciences.
• TOXLINE (1965 to date): References on the health effects of drugs and chemicals.

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• Analyze your subject into two or three concepts. Example: the chemotherapy of kidney cancer is divided into kidney, cancer, and chemotherapy.
• Identify synonyms for each concept. Example: renal for kidney, neoplasms for cancer, drug therapy for chemotherapy.
• In the Search for boxes in the Grateful Med search form, enter the synonyms for one of your concepts, separated by or Example:

• Click on Perform Search at the top or bottom of the search screen
• This retrieves records that contain all of the concepts in the title, abstract, or MeSH index terms.
• To do another search, click on Return to Search Screen at the top or bottom of the page.  You can then modify your search or click on Clear Search at the top or bottom of the page to start from scratch.

If you find a record that is especially relevant to your research, you can click on Related Articles to the left of it on the Results Screen or above it on the full record.  This retrieves other records that have a large percentage of keywords in common with it.  Limits (see below) do not apply, and the results are ranked by relevancy (most keywords matched) rather than by date.

AUTHOR SEARCHES

• On the search screen, enter the author's last name, followed by one or more initials without spaces between them.  Do not use first names. Example: the name Christiaan Neethling Barnard can be searched in any of the following ways:

barnard cn       barnard c       barnard
Caution: There is no way to distinguish among different authors who have the same last name and initials.
• From the As menu select Author.
• Click on Perform Search at the top or bottom of the search screen

• Avoid using AIDS as a keyword, since this will usually retrieve many irrelevant citations containing the lower-case word "aids." For articles relating to AIDS, search for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome or select the AIDSLINE database from the Grateful Med home page.
• Search under induced abortion for deliberate termination of pregnancy, and under spontaneous abortion  for miscarriage.
• Search for epidemiology in one box and the name of a disease in another to find studies of its distribution, either geographically or in the population. Not limited to infectious diseases.
• Search for the phrase historical article in one box and a subject  in another to find articles on its history. Avoid using history, which usually retrieves many irrelevant records concerning case histories.  Alternatively, select the HISTLINE database from the Grateful Med home page.
• The following keywords are especially useful in combination with others:

MESH TERMS

MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) terms are standard index terms that are assigned to records.  Searching by MeSH is more focused than the "free text" method shown above.  In Grateful Med, searches on MeSH terms retrieve narrower terms as well. For example, by selecting the MeSH term Liver diseases, you also search for Hepatitis, Liver Neoplasms, and other names of specific liver diseases.

 To find a MeSH term for a subject:

• Enter the subject in a search box and click on Find Mesh/Meta Terms at the top or bottom of the page.
• MeSH terms are listed in order of relevance. Click the box at the left of one or more terms to add them to your search, then click on Continue formulating search to return to the search screen.

Limits can help you focus your search more precisely on your needs.

• Languages:  Select English from this list to exclude publications in other languages.
• Ages,  Study Groups (Human or Animal) and Gender limit to studies of the specified types of patients.
• Publ Type: The menu lists the following types of publication:
• Clinical trial
• Meta-analysis (comparative analysis of earlier research results)
• Randomized controlled trial
• Letter (often containing updates or corrections to earlier publications)
• Editorial
• Review (a review of the literature on a subject)
• Date allows you to specify the beginning and ending years of publication.

The Results Screen shows the most recent publications first, with author(s), title, and source (the citation to a journal). Up to 20 can be displayed on one page; to see more, click on Next Records at the top or bottom of the page.  Example:

To view the abstract (if any) and MeSH index terms for one record, click on Full Citation.

To view the abstracts (if any) and MeSH index terms for the first 20 records retrieved, click on Fetch for Display at the top or bottom of the page.

Click on the box in the upper left to mark a record for saving or printing.  The marks are erased when you perform another search.

SAVING

Up to 1,000 records can be saved to disk at a time. You can save either the full results of one search or a list of marked records from one search.

• Insert an IBM-formatted 3.5" diskette in the floppy drive. (Off campus, you can save to any drive.) One diskette can hold about 6,000 short records or about 600 with abstracts and MeSH terms.
• Click on Download to Disk at the top or bottom of the Results Screen.
• Under You have two choices of download action, select either:
• Download [number] records to save the entire result of your search (the number can be changed to up to 1,000), or
• Download only the records you have selected.
• To save more than 1,000 records from a search, save the first 1,000, then set Starting with Record Number at 1,001 and repeat.
• Select one of the three Levels of detail to include or exclude abstracts or MeSH terms.
• Click on Prepare Download at the top or bottom of the screen.
• Select either IGM format or Tagged Medlars format (which can be imported by database software).
• Click on Download Now at the top or bottom of the screen.

You can print either the results of one search or the marked records from one search.

• To print records without abstracts or MeSH index terms, use your browser's Print command from the File menu to print the Results Screen.  To print more than 20 records, click on Next Records at the bottom of the page and repeat the Print comand.
• To print records with abstracts (if any) and MeSH index terms, click on Fetch for Display at the top or bottom of the Results Screen.  If you marked one or more records from a search, only the marked records will be displayed.
• Use your browser's Print command from the File menu.

• Display records as shown above under Printing.
• From the File menu, select Send Page
• After To: enter your email address.
• Click on Send.