E-Medicine - The Art and Science of Web-Based Literature Search: The MEDLINE

The utility of a thorough literature search is not limited to a student preparing for a seminar or dissertation, but is also required for those engaged in patient care. It has been shown that use of on-line literature searches early in the course of hospitalisation significantly reduces the duration of hospital stay ¹ and traditional paper-based references play only a limited role in clinical problem solving ² . However, with limited resources in terms of time and money and the ever-expanding literature volume, one would like to perform a search that is not only comprehensive or complete, but also do it in the shortest possible time. If the way we perform a search is not proper, we could well be a victim of the most fundamental computer adage: garbage in, garbage out ³ . This happens because computer based literature databases make it possible for us to just punch in a few words and get some relevant results. We get the satisfaction of obtaining an instantaneous result. However, it is worth pondering whether this is the best response.