For the purposes of this workshop we will pursue an interest in wrist fractures, specifically treatment by external fixation and/or Kapandji intrafocal pinning. We will be searching the literature using the facilities available at PubMed. PubMed post its own Overview if you wish to review it.
PubMed Basic
Search [Note the boxes on the current page do not function as a search engine and are
for description only] (Comments in red.)
This worshop will only work if you are connected to the Internet. The pages linked to from
this page will open in a new window so that you can refer back to the workshop. Make sure
you close these windows once you are done. Please note that the PubMed database is always
changing. This workshop was revised in Sept 2001. Most of the numbers (eg the number of
citations found for a given search string) will change within a few days or weeks. Please
use them as rough guides.
(Workshop
instructions in green)
Click on the Basic Search link to open the PubMed page in a new window. Keep this
window open for reference to the workshop
On the Basic Search page you see the following form
The key part here is
| Search for | |
| Selection box for the database to search | Dialog box to enter your search string Action Buttons |
Examine the Search selection box by clicking on the arrow. Note that PubMed is the only citation database of interest to the general orthopaedist. OMIM - Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man is a great resource for looking up genetic diseases
Click on the link to PubMed and enter wrist fracture in the dialog box. Press the SEARCH button and note how many citations are returned. 70 citations are returned on 4th Sept 2001. Some of these have only the most tenuous connection with the subject of interest eg -
#27 Varenna M, et al. Is the metatarsal fracture in postmenopausal women an osteoporotic fracture? A cross-sectional study on 113 cases. Osteoporos Int. 1997;7(6):558-63.
If you read on to the 3rd page the 58th citation was
If you now click on [See Related Articles] you will find a collection of 103 articles mostly on external fixation of wrist fractures.
*Key Point* Using the "See Related Articles" button next to an article which interests you is the quickest and easiest way to improve the validity of your search.