Willinsky John, Quint-Rapoport Mia
Department of Language and Literacy Education, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
J Med Internet Res. 2007 Jun 29;9(2):e19. doi: 10.2196/jmir.9.2.e19.
PubMed is the largest bibliographic index in the life sciences. It is freely available online and is used by professionals and the public to learn more about medical research. While primarily intended to serve researchers, PubMed provides an array of tools and services that can help a wider readership in the location, comprehension, evaluation, and utilization of medical research.
This study sought to establish the potential contributions made by a range of PubMed tools and services to the use of the database by complementary and alternative medicine practitioners.
In this study, 10 chiropractors, 7 registered massage therapists, and a homeopath (N = 18), 11 with prior research training and 7 without, were taken through a 2-hour introductory session with PubMed. The 10 PubMed tools and services considered in this study can be divided into three functions: (1) information retrieval (Boolean Search, Limits, Related Articles, Author Links, MeSH), (2) information access (Publisher Link, LinkOut, Bookshelf ), and (3) information management (History, Send To, Email Alert). Participants were introduced to between six and 10 of these tools and services. The participants were asked to provide feedback on the value of each tool or service in terms of their information needs, which was ranked as positive, positive with emphasis, negative, or indifferent.
The participants in this study expressed an interest in the three types of PubMed tools and services (information retrieval, access, and management), with less well-regarded tools including MeSH Database and Bookshelf. In terms of their comprehension of the research, the tools and services led the participants to reflect on their understanding as well as their critical reading and use of the research. There was universal support among the participants for greater access to complete articles, beyond the approximately 15% that are currently open access. The abstracts provided by PubMed were felt to be necessary in selecting literature to read but entirely inadequate for both evaluating and learning from the research. Thus, the restrictions and fees the participants faced in accessing full-text articles were points of frustration.
The study found strong indications of PubMed's potential value in the professional development of these complementary and alternative medicine practitioners in terms of engaging with and understanding research. It provides support for the various initiatives intended to increase access, including a recommendation that the National Library of Medicine tap into the published research that is being archived by authors in institutional archives and through other websites.
PubMed是生命科学领域最大的文献索引。它可免费在线获取，专业人士和公众都用其来更多地了解医学研究。虽然主要是为研究人员服务，但PubMed提供了一系列工具和服务，可帮助更广泛的读者查找、理解、评估和利用医学研究。
本研究旨在确定一系列PubMed工具和服务对补充和替代医学从业者使用该数据库的潜在贡献。
在本研究中，10名脊椎按摩师、7名注册按摩治疗师和1名顺势疗法医生（共18人，其中11人有先前的研究培训经历，7人没有）参加了为期2小时的PubMed入门课程。本研究中考虑的10种PubMed工具和服务可分为三项功能：（1）信息检索（布尔搜索、限定条件、相关文章、作者链接、医学主题词），（2）信息获取（出版商链接、LinkOut、书架），以及（3）信息管理（历史记录、发送至、电子邮件提醒）。向参与者介绍了其中6至10种工具和服务。要求参与者根据他们的信息需求，对每种工具或服务的价值提供反馈，反馈分为积极、重点积极、消极或无动于衷。
本研究中的参与者对PubMed的三类工具和服务（信息检索、获取和管理）表示出兴趣，评价较低的工具包括医学主题词数据库和书架。就对研究的理解而言，这些工具和服务促使参与者反思他们的理解以及对研究的批判性阅读和运用。参与者普遍支持能获取更多的全文文章，目前约15%的文章为开放获取。参与者认为PubMed提供的摘要对于选择要阅读的文献很有必要，但对于评估研究和从研究中学习则完全不够。因此，参与者在获取全文文章时面临的限制和费用令人沮丧。
该研究发现有充分迹象表明，PubMed在这些补充和替代医学从业者的专业发展中，在参与和理解研究方面具有潜在价值。它为旨在增加获取途径的各种举措提供了支持，包括建议国立医学图书馆利用作者在机构存档库和通过其他网站存档的已发表研究。
