Guide to Library Resources and Services for Doctors (Medical and Surgical): Databases

Register for 24/7 access to our electronic resources using an OpenAthens account

An OpenAthens account facilitates your access to our electronic resources (e-books, databases, e-journals, tools etc.) both on and off the HSE network. A valid email address and your HSE employee number is required for registration.

You can access the electronic resources listed on our homepage using your OpenAthens username and password.

If you have moved to a new Hospital and need to move your OpenAthens account to your new place of work contact our Virtual Desk.

Access our Help and Guides to learn more about how to use our resource and register for a Training Session to learn more.

Databases are important tools to use when literature searching, as they index specific journal collections and allow advanced searching and filtering options. 

Some databases are freely accessible online, such as Cochrane (in the Republic of Ireland) and PubMed (internationally), but we also subscribe to a number of additional databases.

To access our online databases and journals you must register for an OpenAthens account

When you have your OpenAthens account set up you can log in to databases, such as those listed below, on our homepage:

• MEDLINE
• Psychology & Behavioral Sciences Collection
• PsycINFO
• Trip Database (Trip Pro available from a HSE networked device)
• Health Research Premium Collection (Proquest) - including the following databases: Consumer Health Database; Health and Medical Collection; Healthcare Administration Database; Psychology Database and a Public Health Database.
• Web Of Science

For further information, use our LibGuide or contact your local Library.

We provide a dedicated Guide to help you to perform a literature search in a robust and systematic way. It outlines how to:

ASK patient-centred, focused question(s) - construct well-built clinical questions, using PICO and other frameworks

ACQUIRE the best evidence relevant to your questions

• Select the appropriate resource(s)
• Conduct search(es)

DOCUMENT your search - the guide provides you with a template to help you to do so

SCREEN your results - using tools such as Covidence or Rayyan

APPRAISE the evidence to check for bias, quality, reliability and applicability using tools such as Checklists