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Subject: Medline

To everyone who wants to know....
I e-mailed this approximate message to KB, but I'll try to reproduce it for
the net. Next time I do this maybe I'll get smart and keep a copy!
Medline is a way to search a database, in this case for medical literature.
To do so, you need access, usually available at a hospital, medical center,
or library, although you can get it for your home also.
On the actual program, you type in Search, and the program gives you a screen
of data to fill in. For example, you can type in the name of an article you
want to find, and/or the author, and/or the name of the journal, if known.
Or, you can type in subject words-for example Lactation. But, then you will
obtain a list of a zillion articles, including such things as "Lactation and
the effects of steroids on bovines". So, you search with more than one word,
such as Lactation, Human and mastitis. They call this "mesh" of subject
words. It narrows down the search. After you work on it for awhile, you get
the hang of how to make your searches work for you better, tho I don't claim
to be an expert. The limitation is that EVERYthing is not on the Medline.
Only the largest journals, tho that is a lot. On Medline, you can also use
options such as Lonesome Doc (these guys had a sense of humor)-which orders
you a copy of the article whose abstract you got in your search. There is
something else called Grateful Med, also.
(like Grateful Dead, get it?)
There are other databases that are useful, like Cinahl (Cumulative INdex of
Allied Health Literature, I think). This is more of nursing and allied health
literature (no kidding), rather than medical.
Someone else, like Alicia or one of the other MDs could probably do a better
job than I of explaining this, but this is a start!

Denise M.
Florida