All EBSCOhost databases (including CINAHL & Medline) have a new interface from August 2025. These videos will show you how to navigate basic and advanced searching in the new interface.
This video covers basic searching in CINAHL & demonstrates natural searching options.
This video covers advanced searching in CINAHL & demonstrates various Boolean techniques, building up a search strategy and saving searches.
Databases are collections of subject specific resources (e.g. journal articles, books, conference proceedings etc.).
You can see the key databases for the School of Health and Social Care below. These library databases contain a mix of journal articles, e-book collections, images and videos, and other specialised sources. These databases are reviewed and updated regularly.
You can access these databases through this libguide, A-Z list of databases or LibrarySearch.
Google Scholar is a specialised search engine for scholarly literature. It focuses on journal articles, these & dissertations, books, conference papers, patents and case law.
Learn search tips from our Google Scholar guide.
Databases are particularly useful when searching for journal articles.
Search in a relevant topic related database and search multiple journal titles at once to help you use your time studying more efficiently.
Databases are also designed to be searched in a way that allows for more complex search methods, which can help us develop better searches which gives you more relevant sets of search results. Have a look at Searching techniques.
CINAHL with Full Text is a comprehensive research database and source of full text for nursing & allied health journals. Additional materials include full-text evidence-based care sheets, quick lessons and continuing education modules.
EBSCO’s privacy policy
MEDLINE provides authoritative medical information on medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, the health care system, pre-clinical sciences, and much more. Created by the National Library of Medicine, MEDLINE uses MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) indexing with tree, tree hierarchy, subheadings and explosion capabilities to search citations from over 4,800 current biomedical journals.
EBSCO’s privacy policy
MA Healthcare Complete includes the UK's widest range of clinical nursing journals as well as leading titles in midwifery, dental nursing, pre-hospital care and veterinary practice.
MA Healthcare's privacy policy
Emcare, produced by Elsevier, covers all nursing specialties and nursing healthcare professions. Emcare includes international coverage of allied health, education and training, development and management, midwifery, health and healthcare economics, clinical medical and healthcare social work, psychiatry and mental health, and traumatology, emergency and critical-care medicine.
Ovid’s privacy policy
Ovid Nursing Database includes information from Journals@Ovid and MEDLINE, the United States National Library of Medicine's (NLM®) premier bibliographic database.
Ovid’s privacy policy
PubMed, developed by the National Library of Medicine in the USA, provides access to bibliographic citations to biomedical journal articles,and to additional life sciences journals. MEDLINE is the largest subset of PubMed.
National Library of Medicine's privacy policy
ScienceDirect contains over 25% of the world's science, technology and medicine full text and bibliographic information.
Access note: If you want to create a personal account on ScienceDirect to save searches and favourites, go directly to ScienceDirect and click on ‘My account’, and then follow the instructions to create a personal account. It is not necessary to do this in order to access and read articles.
Elsevier’s privacy policy
The Web of Science Service for UK Education provides a single route to all the Clarivate Analytics products subscribed to by your institution. Connect to the Web of Science Service, search using the 'All Database search' or select an individual product from the drop down list.
Clarivate Analytics’ privacy policy
The Anatomy and Physiology module from Anatomy TV has 20 interactive modules covering all body systems with interactive 3D anatomy and media rich physiology content. With case studies and quizzes to expand your understanding. Materials available for teachers to use in the Faculty area.
Informa's privacy policy
BNF lists prescription medicines used in the UK, including uses, side-effects, dosage and costs. For use by prescribers, pharmacists and other healthcare professionals. Includes access to Nurse Prescriber’s Formulary.
Pharmaceutical Press’ privacy policy
If you see an error when attempting to access this resource, please try clearing your cache/cookies. If you still have problems, try going to the Royal Marsden website. If the website does not automatically recognise you as an Edinburgh Napier user, click 'Login' and select 'Institutional login for Shibboleth users', then search for Edinburgh Napier University.
This manual provides up-to-date, detailed, evidence-based guidelines for clinical nursing skills and procedures related to every aspect of care, including key information on equipment, the procedure and post-procedure guidance, along with full colour illustrations and photos.
The Royal Marsden’s privacy policy
There are a wide range of free resources available on the web to find images related to health, medicine and public health. Links to some useful resources are given below.
A freely accessible image database of medical images provided by the National Library of Medicine and National Institute of Health in the US.
A wide selection of modern and historical images relating to public health from the CDC (Center for Disease Control) in the US.
A resource from the University of Amsterdam providing a selection of detailed 3D images covering human embryo development. These can be downloaded as special PDF files containing 3D content allowing diagrams and images to be moved and rotated on screen.
BrainInfo is designed to help you identify structures in the brain.
Centre for Better Ageing
This is a collection of 'age-positive and realistic' images aimed at challenging negative and stereotypical views of later life.
This database contains more than one million citations and summaries of journal articles, book chapters, books, dissertations and technical reports, all in the field of psychology. It also includes information about the psychological aspects of related disciplines such as medicine, psychiatry, nursing, sociology, education, pharmacology, physiology, linguistics, anthropology, business and law.
EBSCO’s privacy policy
This collection, published by the American Psychological Association and affiliated journals, provides access to the full spectrum of research in the field, from cutting-edge research from preeminent scholars to the historical underpinnings of the behavioural and social sciences.
EBSCO’s privacy policy
The goal of the Published International Literature On Traumatic Stress (PILOTS) database is to include citations to all literature on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental-health consequences of traumatic events, without disciplinary, linguistic, or geographical limitations, and to offer both current and retrospective coverage.
ProQuest’s privacy policy
As well as these databases, look at the list of Social Work resources for other social sciences and criminology databases.
ClinicalKey Student Midwifery provides access to the essential midwifery, neonatal & child health ebooks collection.
When you arrive on the ClinicalKey platform, you will be asked to log in. Please use any of your Elsevier logins or create a new account.
Elsevier’s privacy policy
Social Work
ASSIA is an indexing and abstracting database covering health, social services, psychology, sociology, economics, politics, race relations and education. It provides a comprehensive source of social science and health information for the practical and academic professional.
ProQuest’s privacy policy
This collection provides access to databases covering international literature in social sciences, including politics, public policy, sociology, social work, anthropology, criminology, linguistics, library science, and education.
ProQuest’s privacy policy
This collection supports research on crime, its causes and impacts, legal and social implications, as well as law enforcement and security services. It includes the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS) Abstracts Database, and, in addition, correctional and law enforcement trade publications, crime reports and crime blogs.
ProQuest’s privacy policy
This collection provides access to ERIC, the leading index for education research, together with the full-text Education Database. Together, they provide abstracts, indexing and full text coverage of journal articles, books, book chapters, dissertations, working papers and more, including full- text from hundreds of leading education journals.
ProQuest’s privacy policy
Part of the NHS Scotland Knowledge Network specifically targeted at social services and social workers.
This is a free database produced by the Social Care Institute for Excellence. One of its advantages is that is UK focused. A lot of the material in here will be abstract only, meaning you will need to look the source up in LibrarySearch to see if we have full-text access to it. Register for a free account to take advantage of the full search function.
Occupational Therapy
LWW Health Library – Occupational Therapy contains access to 18 major OT ebooks and over 150 video clips and case studies related to these texts.
Wolters Kluwer's privacy policy
OTseeker is a database that contains abstracts of systematic reviews, randomised controlled trials and other resources relevant to occupational therapy interventions.
You will also find some OT content in SportDiscus and PEDro below.
Physiotherapy
This database offers comprehensive, bibliographic coverage of sport, fitness and related disciplines. SPORTDiscus is provided by the Sport Information Resource Centre.
EBSCO’s privacy policy
PEDro is a free database of over 52,000 trials, reviews and guidelines evaluating physiotherapy interventions.
Comprises full-text business periodicals and news sources from ABI/INFORM Global, Dateline, and Trade & Industry.
ProQuest’s privacy policy
This collection provides access to ERIC, the leading index for education research, together with the full-text Education Database. Together, they provide abstracts, indexing and full text coverage of journal articles, books, book chapters, dissertations, working papers and more, including full- text from hundreds of leading education journals.
ProQuest’s privacy policy
The British Education Index provides information on research, policy and practice in education and training in the UK.
EBSCO’s privacy policy
The Cochrane Library is designed to supply evidence about the clinical effectiveness of health care interventions for those providing and receiving care, and those responsible for research, teaching, funding and administration at all levels. It includes:
1) The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR) - Regularly updated reviews of the effects of health care.
2) Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effectiveness (DARE) - Critical assessments and structured abstracts of good systematic reviews published elsewhere.
3) The Cochrane Controlled Trials Register (CCTR) - Bibliographic information on controlled trials (RCTs).
4) Other sources of information on the science of reviewing research and evidence-based health care.
The Cochrane Library is freely available to users in the UK. Information about international access rights
Wiley's privacy policy
SAGE Research Methods is the essential online resource for anyone doing research or learning how to do research. With more than 800 books, reference works, journal articles, and videos from SAGE’s world-renowned research methods list, SAGE Research Methods provides information on writing a research question, conducting a literature review, choosing a research method, collecting and analyzing data, and writing up the findings. SAGE Research Methods’ coverage spans the full range of research methods used in the social and behavioral sciences, plus a wide range of methods commonly used in science, technology, medicine, and the humanities.
Sage’s privacy policy
HeinOnline is an online research platform that provides more than 200 million pages of multidisciplinary periodicals, essential government documents, international resources, case law, and more.
HeinOnline’s privacy policy
Lexis+ (formerly known as Lexis Library) is a legal database. Resources include legislation, case reports, journal articles and commentary including the full text of The Stair Memorial Encyclopedia, Scottish Criminal Case Reports, Scottish Civil Law Reports, All England Law Reports, The New Law Journal, Family Law (journal).
Lexis Nexis’ privacy policy
Westlaw is a gateway containing a large and growing number of databases, which can be searched separately or together. Examples include the UK case locator, UK legislation, Legal Journals index, UK current awareness and EU materials (e.g. cases, legislation, journals, current awareness). Full text law reports and journals (primarily Sweet & Maxwell titles) can be accessed together with much full text material from the rest of the world, especially the USA, Canada and Australia.
When you reach the Westlaw website, you may be blocked by a message asking you to set up a personal account. If you do not want to give your personal details, you can fill the boxes in as follows: First name: xxxxxx Surname: xxxxxxx Email: xxxxxxxxxxx@yahoo.co.uk
Thomson Reuters' privacy policy