Selected Resources for Health Law & Policy Seminar

CWSL - Fall  2007

 

Evaluating Web Sites for Information Quality

 

 

CWSL Library Links:

 

 

Most of the resources described below are accessible from either or both of these web pages.  Note:  Your CWSL network login and password will be needed for off campus access to some of these resources.

 

 

Books and Periodicals

 

o              UCSD Biomedical and Medical Center Libraries (open to the public)

 

  • WorldCat: This is a database of library catalogs all over the world.  WorldCat is the broadest and usually a good place to start. If we do not have a text at CWSL, you can gain access through inter-library loan or going to one of the local public libraries and using it at the library itself.  See Linda Weathers for ILL.
  • FirstSearch:  An online service that gives access to a collection of reference databases, including index and full text.  Related to WorldCat.  Materials in the library’s collection are highlighted. 

 

Articles

 

Indexes and Full-Text Sources

 

Indexes Include:

 

In addition to the legal indexes (i.e. LegalTrac & Index to Legal Periodicals)

There are other multidisciplinary indexes  such as:

 

Note:  Indexes are NOT full-text databases.  With the bibliographic information these indexes provide, use the library catalogs, ILL and/or the full-text databases described below to locate journals and obtain articles.

 

Full-text sources for articles include:

 At CWSL:

·         JSTOR

Collections subscribed to at CWSL: http://www.jstor.org/collectioninfo

·         Wilson Select Plus (a First Search database)

 

At (SD Public Library):

·         Academic Search Elite,

·         Business Source Premier (SD Public Library)

·         EbscoHost,

 

Free to Public on Web:

·         PubMed Central  This is the National Library of Medicine’s free database of full-text medical articles.  It contains articles from many of the most important medical journals.  Reach it at http://www.pubmedcentral.gov.  It does not include every journal indexed in Medline/PubMed.

·         Free Medical Journals: http://www.freemedicaljournals.com/: Full text from a variety of publications

 

Selected  Medicine Related Journals

 

Journal Title

(Linked if at CWSL Library)

Other Availability

JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association),

Selected articles at JAMA web 6 months after publication.

New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM),

The Lancet

Health Affairs
  • Online and print via CWSL catalog.
  • LEXIS (From Winter 1994/1995 FT)

British Medical Journal (BMJ)
  • WESTLAW – Abstracts & FT (BRMEDJ)
  • BMJ Web (from 1994)

Milbank Quarterly

 

 

Other Sources for Journals:

 

.A variety of other medical related journals are available on WESTLAW & LEXIS.

 

 

Legislative Materials

 

·         Thomas is an excellent resource for pending legislation, public laws, and bills dating back to the 101st Congress (1989-90).  Search by bill number, public law number, and/or key words.  If related materials such as floor debates reported in Congressional Record, committee reports, and committee hearings are available in electronic format, links are provided with the text of the legislation.  Find Thomas at http://thomas.loc.gov.

·         Lexis-Nexis Congressional is primarily an electronic index, but it contains some full-text documents.  It includes abstracts of bills, committee reports, and hearings.  Each item has an accession number, which provides access to the full text of the document on microfiche.  Research can also be done manually using these indexes in print. 

·         Lexis has comprehensive federal legislative resources, including compilations of legislative histories for some statutes, including HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act). 

·         Westlaw also has federal and state legislative resources.

·         Congressional committees often have the full text of prepared testimony, reports, and other interesting materials at their web sites, as well as names of staff members to contact directly.  Thomas has links from its main page to lists of House and Senate Committees with links directly to their web sites.

·         Law Librarians Society of Washington DC’s Legislative Sourcebook is a good source for both state and federal legislative information and links.

·         Some state legislative history materials are now available on Westlaw.  Most of the materials are for recent legislation (no more than three to five years), but the coverage varies by state.  State legislative history materials are also available via individual state’s websites.

 

 

Other Resources

 

  • Library Research Guides: The CWSL librarians have created a variety of  research guides on the following health related topics:  AIDS and the Law, Death and Dying Issues, Elder Law,  Health Care Financing, Medical Malpractice, Mental Health Law, Pharmaceuticals and the Law as well as state and federal regulations.
  • Westlaw and Lexis:  Westlaw and Lexis have extensive collections of journals and other resources in disciplines other than law.  Search the directories for individual titles, and look in the topical databases.

o        Westlaw:  In the Directory, click on Topical Materials by Area of Practice <Health and Medicine.

o        Lexis:  Under Look for a Source/Legal tab, click on Area of Law—By Topic - Health Care or Medical.

o        Comprehensive news databases on Westlaw & Lexis.  Hint:  use field/segment of ‘hlead’ to find articles on your topic.

o        Health Care Policy Tracking Service is a subscription database that is available through Westlaw.  This is an excellent resource for obtaining information and following developments in health care at both the state and federal level.  In the Westlaw Directory, Location: All Databases > Topical Materials by Area of Practice > Health & Medicine > News & Information > Health Care Policy.  A list of all the HPTS databases appears there.

  • BNA Materials: CWSL has access to all BNA titles in electronic format:   These include: BNA’s Health Law Reporter and Health Care Daily Report are an excellent resources for current developments. Students can subscribe to online updates of any BNA title.  Also available on WESTLAW.
  • Google has a free news alert service.  Enter search terms and select delivery options.  Westlaw and Lexis have similar services—WestClip (Westlaw) and Eclipse (Lexis).  Links to these appear on the search screens.  Google Scholar is becoming a good source for articles, reports and research papers.  Reach it at the Google.com web site.
  • The GAO (Government Accountability Office) conducts studies and prepares reports at the request of Congress, individual legislators, and other government officials.  A full-text database is available at http://www.gao.gov.  Click on Reports and Testimony.  Search by topic or by words/phrases.
  • Pace Online Health Law Library:  Links to journals, newsletters, research, law and policy.
  • Policy research groups (“think tanks”) can be a good source of studies and reports.
    •  Rand (http://www.rand.org) has a research section that focuses exclusively on health and health care issues.  Many of its reports are available free online.  Others are available for purchase or in libraries. 
    •  Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation (http://www.kff.org) and the
    •  UCLA Center for Health Policy Research (http://www.healthpolicy.ucla.edu/) are other groups that do health care and policy research. 
    • The Pew Charitable Trusts (http://www.pewtrusts.com) have sponsored studies on medical malpractice and tort reform efforts in the states, and many full-text publications on these topics are available at the web site.
    • The Center for Studying Health System Change (http://www.hschange.org) has issue briefs, survey results, articles and other studies on a variety of topics. 
    • The National Bureau of Economic Research (http://www.nber.org) is another good, nonpartisan source of studies, all with a focus on economics.
    • The National Conference of State Legislatures (http://www.ncsl.org) can be a good place to start looking for information about laws and programs in individual states. Health care is only one topic included at this site.  Some of the content is available only to members, but much of it is free. 
    • Stateline.Org (http://www.stateline.org) is another good resource for learning about what is happening in health care at the state level.
  • Article on Researching Medical Information on the Web