Library Resources for Nursing and Midwifery
This section guides you to the library's key print and electronic resources for Nursing and Midwifery. You can access print and electronic books through your unit reading lists and the library catalogue. Online databases such as Discover and the British Nursing Database will allow you to search for academic journal articles on specific topics. You will also find links to Study Hub which offers guidance and one to one support to help you develop your databases searching, referencing and other research skills.
The resources covered in this guide relate to all aspects of Nursing and Midwifery. The majority of databases provide access to peer reviewed journal articles, but you will also see links to a wider range of resources such as ebooks, online encyclopedias such as the Encyclopedia of Nursing Research, and the interactive 'Visible Body' human anatomy application.
Don't forget that we are here to help; you can find advice and guidance at Study Hub Online, or request an appointment by emailing librarians@beds.ac.uk
Bill Mortimer
Academic Liaison Librarian for Nursing and Midwifery
Email: librarians@beds.ac.uk
Library Databases for Nursing and Midwifery
The following resources and databases will help you access key information for your course. Click on the link to find out more.
Reading lists for the units you are studying in Nursing and Midwifery can be accessed through BREO, or by searching for the unit title. The online reading lists are a good place to start off from as they provide access to the core-texts and selected readings for your unit.
You can locate books for specific areas in Nursing and Midwifery through the Library Catalogue. The library catalogue will link you up with print books and ebooks from the University's collection. Print books can be accessed from the campuses in Aylesbury and Milton Keynes as well as Luton and Bedford.
The Discover database allows you to search across multiple academic databases provided through the University of Bedfordshire Library. It is a good place to start searching for academic journal articles on all topics relating to Nursing and midwifery.
The British Nursing Database provides full text access to nursing and midwifery journals published in the UK, Australia and Canada as well as some international titles.
CINAHL stands for Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature. CINAHL Complete offers full-text access to over 1300 journals in nursing and allied health.
MEDLINE with full text provides provides access to more than 1470 authroitative journals on medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, the health care system, and pre-clinical sciences.
APA PsycArticles is a full text database that provides articles from academic journals published by the American Psychological Association.
APA PsycINFO provides access to the international literature of psychology material related to the psychological aspects of education, medicine, business, sociology and psychiatry.
Global Health is a public health database that provides information on international health, biomedical life sciences, non-communicable diseases, public health nutrition, food safety, hygiene and other health topics.
AMED is an alternative medicine database for physicians, therapists, medical researchers and clinicians. Treatments covered include complementary medicine, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, rehabilitation, podiatry, and palliative care.
The Visible Body: Human Anatomy Atlas is a suite of 3D visualizations of human anatomy. It contains more than 4600 anatomical structures.
Freely Available Databases for Nursing and Midwifery
There are a range of freely available databases relating to health below.
NHS OpenAthens is not a resource in itself, but the ‘key’ that unlocks a range of quality, trusted, evidence-based information for health and care staff throughout their career. This is open to students on healthcare courses and placements as many other members of the wider healthcare community. Check your eligibility and sign up
PubMed Central (PMC) is a free full-text archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature at the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
PubMed is a bibliographic database with over 36 million citations from biomedical literature. PubMed differs from PubMed central as it provides abstracts but does not store the full-texts of the articles.
The Cochrane Library is a collection of databases that contain evidence to inform healthcare decision making. These include the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and Cochrane Clinical Answers.
You can search the Cochrane databases and access tutorials and support at Cochrane Library Search Help
Europe PubMed Central is an alternative to PMC which is funded by European research organizations.
Useful Multidisciplinary Databases
These databases provide access to information on a wide range of subjects including medicine and health.
Scopus is a an abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed scientific literature with content from over 28000 journal titles worldwide. Like Web of Science, Scopus does not have complete full-text coverage but does provide access to analytical data.
The Web of Science core collection brings together three citation indexes which provide data from about 22,000 journals: Arts & Humanities Citation Index (A&HCI), Science Citation Index (SCI), Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) as well as published proceeding from about 12 000 annual conferences.
SocINDEX with Full Text offers coverage of subjects related to sociology, including abortion, cultural sociology, ethnic & racial studies, gender studies, marriage & family, social psychology, social structure, social work, substance abuse, welfare, and many others..
Academic search Complete is a multi-disciplinary full-text database. This includes access to the full-text of more than 8500 journals and abstract records of more than 12500 journals.
Credo Reference is a searchable collection containing 100 reference sources including subject dictionaries, encyclopedias, biographical sources and quotations. Includes titles such as The Gale encyclodpedia of nursing and allied health and Black's medical dictionary
Websites for Nursing and Midwifery
The following websites are authoritive resources which will support student nurses and midwives. Look also at your unit reading lists for details of more subject specific websites.
NHS Health A to Z Gives an overview of National Health Service treatments for common conditions.
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) NICE provides evidence based guidelines for health and social care professionals on best practice in treating diseases and conditions.
British National Formulary (BNF) Published and updated by NICE the BNF provides key information on the selection, prescribing, dispensing and administration of medicines.
NHS Confederation Acronym Buster The handy acronym buster has over a thousand commonly used healthcare abbreviations for you to use when you need them.
Department of health and Social Care Government department providing strategic leadership for health and social care in England.
Nursing and Midwifery Council The NMC are the independent regulator for nurses and midwives in teh UK, and nursing associates in England. They produce the standards of practice and behaviour for nurses, midwives and nursing associates, also known as The Code.
Royal College of Nursing (RCN) The world's largest nursing union and professional body representing over half a million nursing staff and students in the UK and internationally.
Royal College of Midwives (RCM) The Royal College of Midwives is the professional association and trade union for midwives and maternity support workers in the UK.
NHS Careers Information on careers in the NHS, how to apply for a job, pay and benefits, and other practicalities.
NHS Graduates Information on the NHS Graduate Management Training scheme.
The King's Fund The King's fund is an independent charitable organization working to improve health and care in England.
World Health Organization (WHO) The United Nations agency for promoting health worldwide. The WHO coordinates the response to global health emergencies and to promote healthier lives, from pregnancy to old age.
Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) Provides access to the PRISMA checklist and flow diagram.
Centre for Reviews and Dissemination Guidance on Systematic Reviews.
Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) CASP offers critical appraisal skills training, and tools to help improve evidence based research. These include the Critical Appraisal Checklists
Joanna Briggs Institute - Critical Appraisal Tools Critical Appraisal Tools from the JBI in Australia.
PROSPERO registry of systematic reviews an international systematic review registry that aims to promote transparency and open science, reduce reporting bias and help prevent unintended duplication and research waste.
searchRxiv (pronounced “search archive”) has been established to support researchers to report, store and share their searches consistently and to enable them to review and re-use existing searches.
Epistemikos is a collaborative, multilingual database of health evidence. It is a large source of systematic reviews relevant for health-decision making, and a sizable source of other types of scientific evidence.
Royal College of Nursing Library Freely searchable interface for Europe's largest nursing-specific collection. RCN members can also borrow books and access a range of library services
Royal College of Midwives Library Library collections for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) and the Royal College of Midwives (RCM). Access is restricted to RCM members.
The Wellcome Collection Free, downloadable images taken from the Wellcome Collection's library and museums, including paintings, illustrations, photos and more.
Statistics at OHID (Office for Health Improvement and Disparities) Provides a wide range of official health statistics from the UK government.
Local Health Quality assured small area health related data visualised in maps, charts, area profiles and reports. Provided by the Office of health Improvement and Disparities.
Statistics at UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) The UKHSA collects and publishes statistics related to planning, preventing and responding to external health threats.
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