NPSF Library Research Advice

Copyright Information

Copyright protection provides protection to the authors of original works of authorship. This includes literary, dramatic, music, artistic, and certain other intellectual works. Reffer to title 17 of the United States Code for more information or visit the United States Copyright Office for more general information at http://www.copyright.gov.

Finding and Using Resources

The National Patient Safety Foundation has a large number of publications available online. In addition to these, we house one of the largest patient safety libraries in the country. The citations of these publications are available on our website, along with annotations which have been published in our bi-monthly literature alert.

Publications are often available online directly through the publisher. Some of our citations include a link to the website of either the source of the article or publication, or the direct PDF of the article or publication.

While our database primarily focuses around patient safety, there are many comprehensive databases available on the web. Several excellent databases are listed below.

PubMed: the largest collection of searchable citations on medical literature freely available on the web. NOTE: because this is a free text search, the terms you wish to use will need to be the same the author used. Try a variety of combinations. Journals cited will be available at a local medical library or through inter-library loan at your public library.

National Library of Medicine (NLM) : Two sites of the NLM, http://health.nih.gov/ and MedLine Plus, provide health information on a variety of medical topics.
MedScape: The patient Education section lists specific problem areas. A number of full-text articles are available in their library.
National Guideline Clearinghouse: This is a public resource for evidence-based clinical practice guidelines.
Healthfinder: this "guide to reliable health information" provides links to consumer health and human services information including online publications, clearinghouses, databases, support and self--help groups, government agencies and not-for-profit organizations.
National Health Information Center (NHIC): a health information referral service with information about federally funded clearinghouses and information centers. You can also call NHIC at (800) 336-4797 for information about services or a free list of Federal information clearinghouses.
Online Health Resources: a directory of Public Health and Safety related websites submitted by the organizations themselves.

Technical Help

For technical help please refer to search help.

Contact Us

If you have difficulty searching or locating a publication, please contact NPSF for assistance.

Anita Spielman, Program Manager
aspielman@npsf.org
413-663-8900