Lab Tests Online

The library has recently made a link on our “For Patients and Consumers” site to Lab Tests Online. This site, hosted by the American Association for Clinical Chemistry, provides easy to read quality information on diagnostic lab tests. The entries are written in a Q&A format and contain information on what the test attempts to diagnose and how the test is administered. A section on “How Reliable is Laboratory Testing” helps to explain in simple terms why tests do not always rule in or rule out a diagnosis 100% of the time. This is a high-quality site for you to recommend to your patients who wish to learn more about their tests.

Searching in the New Year

What do Cookbooks, Earthquakes, Nasal Lavage, Osteochondrosis and Poetry have in common? They are all new Medical Subject Heading (MeSH) terms that can be used in searching MEDLINE beginning in 2009. These are five of the 446 new headings available for 2009. Why is this important? If, when searching MEDLINE, you focus on using appropriate subject headings instead of keywords, you will find that your results are more specific and, hopefully, relevant. The easiest way to do this is in OVID, make certain that the “Map Term to Subject Heading” box is checked off. In PubMed, type the subject term followed by [mh]. To find a list of ALL MeSH headings, use this page on the National Library of Medicine site. If you would like a refresher on the best ways to incorporate subject searching in MEDLINE, contact Len Levin in the library (X6-6028 or len.levin@umassmed.edu).