LibGuides: .Physical Therapy: Start Here

How to Use this Subject Guide

Hi, I'm Kristin Whitman, the librarian for the Oregon Tech Doctor of Physical Therapy Program! This guide points you toward the best starting points for doing research in this subject area.

Use the tabs on the left to explore different sections of this guide.

For research assistance, visit Get Help section and/or contact the librarian on this guide.

AccessPhysiotherapy

AccessPhysiotherapy
Access Physiotherapy is a resource with handbooks, textbooks, exam prep, videos, and other resources about human physiology. Choose Multimedia, then Gross Anatomy lectures for anatomy content.

Best Databases for Scholarly Articles

PubMed (with OHSU full text access)
PubMed is a free database which contains more than 33 million citations for biomedical literature, life science journals. Because it is free and contains so much valuable medical evidence, you will likely use PubMed throughout your medical career. OHSU has a larger collection of full text electronic medical journals than OIT, so this PubMed link is configured to show "Find it at OHSU" buttons on search results to help you get the full text.

PubMed Search Help

If a simple search in PubMed does not retrieve the articles for which you are searching, try PubMed Advanced Search Builder (tutorial video above).
To search by subject in PubMed, MeSH terms should be used for best results. See the About MeSH Headings tab of this box for more information.
Do you need a more in-depth PubMed tutorial? Please contact your librarian (see the profile boxes on this guide), try the tutorials on the NIH website (under Quick Tours), or you can use this PubMed Playlist by medical librarian Carrie Price to get quick tutorials.

MESH headings are used in a number of databases to provide more precise results. The video below explains what they are and how to use them.

To search by subject in the Libraries Catalog or PubMed, MeSH terms should be used for best results. The following list represents a sample of available headings; to obtain a complete list of relevant subject terms, please use the MeSH database in PubMed, the NIH MeSH Browser or consult with a librarian.

CINAHL with Full Text This link opens in a new window
Focuses on patient care, so use when you need to find information on how people and medicine interact. For example, management of patients, assessments, or clinical practices. It provides full text for 790 nursing and allied health journals and many date back to 1982. Also includes Open Access (OA) journals.

Cochrane Library This link opens in a new window
The Cochrane Library is a collection of databases that contain high-quality, independent evidence for inform healthcare decision-making. Cochrane Library is primarily used for its database of systematic reviews. Use this when looking for evidence-based information. It also has many clinical trial articles, technology assessments, and economic evaluations. The Cochrane Library consists of: Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (Cochrane Reviews); Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (Other Reviews); Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (Clinical Trials); Cochrane Database of Methodology Reviews (Methods Reviews); The Cochrane Methodology Register (Methods Studies); Health Technology Assessment Database (Technology Assessments); NHS Economic Evaluation Database (Economic Evaluations).

Google Scholar with OHSU Full Text
Google Scholar enables you to search specifically for academic research including journal articles, books, technical reports, conference proceedings, and other scholarly material. Make sure you visit Settings and set Oregon Tech as your library so you have easier access to articles for free. This link is configured to provide full text access to OHSU subscriptions.

PEDro
A free database of over 60,000 trials, reviews and guidelines evaluating physiotherapy interventions.

Finding Images

SMART imagebase This link opens in a new window
SMART Imagebase contains a growing collection of high-quality illustrations and animations depicting anatomy, physiology, surgery, pathology, diseases, conditions, trauma, embryology, histology and other medical topics. It also includes 100 anatomy coloring book pages. Content is peer-reviewed by graduate-level medical illustrators and expert reviewed by physicians.