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D Is for Databases

 Get good quality, healthcare specialist information and research quickly – search our databases.

What are databases?

Database contain bibliographic information around a wide range of, often subject specialist, journals. You can use a range of tools available via the database interface to search for articles on your topic.

Tools include: free-text searching, thesaurus or subject term searching, options to combine keywords and searches, and filters such as date of publication and patient characteristics to focus your search. Most databases allow you to set up alerts so that you are notified when new material is added and you can save and share your search results.


We subscribe to healthcare databases to help you to find good quality information in your specialist areas.

Keele Databases

Keele University has subscribed to some core healthcare databases such as:

  • AMED (Allied & Complementary Medicine Database) - Database of references to journal articles in alternative/complementary medicine and therapies.
  • CINAHL Plus with Full Text - Database of references to journal articles in nursing and allied healthcare professions.
  • Maternity & Infant Care Database (MIDIRS) - MIDIRS assists the maternity health care professional through articles and updates on current midwifery, medical and social research.
  • MEDLINE - Contains millions of references for articles in many current biomedical journals.
  • PsycINFO - Find references for journal articles, book chapters and dissertations in the field of psychology, psychiatry, behavioural science & mental health.
  • Web of Science - Includes the Arts & Humanities Citation Index, Conference Proceedings, access to Journal Citation Reports and Book Citation Index.

Access Keele Databases

Login to Keele University online resources using your Keele login details. You can find more help about Keele logins from the Campus Library. The most relevant databases have been listed together for you on subject specialist pages on our website:

NHS Databases

Find the most up-to-date evidence via a range of specialist databases available to NHS staff

  • AMED - Covers alternative and allied health therapies
  • BNI - Bibliographic details of major UK nursing and midwifery journals
  • CINAHL - Comprehensive range of healthcare journal titles
  • Cochrane Library - Systematic reviews for conditions, diseases and interventions
  • Embase - Covers pharmaceutical, biotechnology and biomedical topics
  • Emcare - Major nursing and allied health database
  • HMIC - Invaluable resource for administrators and managers
  • Medline - Comprehensive range of healthcare journal titles
  • PsychArticles - Key journal titles for psychology-based topics
  • PsychInfo - Comprehensive coverage of mental health topics

Access NHS Databases

NHS staff can access NHS-based online resources using their NHS OpenAthens username. Register for your account via our NHS OpenAthens web page. NHS resources have been listed on our website:

More Help

Check the Online Guides and Support section on our website for guides, tutorials, videos and how-to instructions on using our most popular resources

Complete an etutorial to get started using our resources

Book a session with our training team if you need more help searching for information

Contact Cheryl, our eresources librarian, for more help accessing online resources; c.kent@keele.ac.uk

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