Using databases to get the articles you need

 During your studies or your work, you’ll need to get good quality, up-to-date information for your assignments, research, current practice and professional development. You can use databases to find the key information you need.

Bibliographic databases contain the details of thousands of articles. Sophisticated search tools help you to find the latest research, best practice, commentary and professional support for your healthcare topics.

Databases offer you these essential benefits:

Subject Specific

Databases are often specific to healthcare subjects, covering medicine, nursing, midwifery and allied health. We subscribe to a wide range of databases to support you.

Run searches

You can run searches to efficiently and effectively find the information you need. A range of tools help to focus your search results.

Save results

You can save your search results and searches to return to or re-run later.

Set alerts

Set alerts on your searches to receive updates of new content that match your search criteria.

Access full-text

You can easily get to the full-text. You’ll find links to the full-text of articles within our subscriptions, by using our subscribed databases.

Support for…

Using databases helps you to retrieve information to support research, professional development and best patient care.

Access our databases

We provide access to databases for our Keele staff and students and to NHS staff working at our NHS partners. Links to the databases are available on our website:

• Medical databases for Keele students
• Nursing and Midwifery databases for Keele students
• NHS resources for UHNM staff
• NHS resources for staff working at North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare
• NHS resources for GP practice staff and ICB staff working in Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent

Which database do you need?

It can often be quite confusing deciding which database to use. We have prepared these handy guides:

• Keele students! Which database do you need?
• NHS staff! Which database do you need?

More help using our databases

• Take a look at our online tutorials or our guides section for support using Keele resources
• Take a look at our online tutorials or our guides section for support using NHS resources

Training opportunities

Our qualified librarians run training courses on literature searching using databases. These are available in group sessions or 1-to-1, via face-to-face training or online webinars. Please contact our training team if you would like more help.