Cancer Care: Databases

Cochrane Clinical Answers (CCAs) provide a readable, digestible, clinically focused entry point to rigorous research from Cochrane Reviews. They are designed to be actionable and to inform point of care decision making. 

Below are recent cancer related Cochrane clinical questions, click on the links to view answers. 

For people with non‐small cell lung cancer, what are the effects of adjunct chemotherapy? Jane Burch (PhD) and Sera Tort (MD) (on behalf of Cochrane Clinical Answers Editors). Cochrane Clinical Answers 2021. DOI: 10.1002/cca.3458.

For adults with non‐advanced colorectal cancer, what are the effects of physical activity? Agustín Ciapponi (MD, MSc) (on behalf of Cochrane Clinical Answers Editors). Cochrane Clinical Answers 2021. DOI: 10.1002/cca.3488.

For adults with locally advanced or metastatic soft tissue sarcoma receiving palliative care, how does doxorubicin monotherapy compare with doxorubicin‐based combination chemotherapy? Jane Burch (PhD) and Sera Tort (MD) (on behalf of Cochrane Clinical Answers Editors). Cochrane Clinical Answers 2021. DOI: 10.1002/cca.3469.

What is the accuracy of basal calcitonin for detection of medullary thyroid cancer in people with nodular thyroid disease? Jane Burch (PhD) and Adarsh Gupta (DO, MS, FACOFP) (on behalf of Cochrane Clinical Answers Editors). Cochrane Clinical Answers 2020. DOI: 10.1002/cca.3232.

Web of Science is a platform that allows you to search multiple databases designed to support scientific and scholarly research. It includes over 21,000 peer reviewed high quality scholarly journals, over 205,000 conference proceedings and over 140,000 editorially selected books. 

A HSE OpenAthens login is required to access this resource. 

The PDQ cancer information summaries are comprehensive, evidence-based summaries on topics that cover adult and pediatric cancer treatment, supportive and palliative care, screening, prevention, genetics, and integrative, alternative, and complementary therapies. Most of the summaries are available in two different formats:

• Health Professional versions provide detailed information written in technical language and are fully referenced with links to PubMed abstracts.
• Patient versions are written in lay language and include links to the NCI Dictionary of Cancer Terms. Many patient summaries also include illustrations.

The following databases and point of care tools are useful for searching various aspects of cancer care. For further information, click on our E-Resources Guide OR contact your local NHLKS library. To access our online databases and journals you must register for an OpenAthens account. 

​LENUS is the Irish health research repository – managed by Health Library Ireland. It is a comprehensive source for Irish health research (over 37,000 items). It also fulfills the HSE’s Open Access statement by providing a route for Irish health researchers to make their work available via the ‘green’ open access route.

There are two ways Lenus can benefit you in your work :

• 1. Use Lenus as a source for finding work by Irish researchers, health and social care organisations (over 130 organisations contribute to Lenus).
• 2. Submit your work to Lenus and make it available in open access (this fulfills any funder Open Access mandate requirements). Any Irish researcher can add their work to Lenus by archiving your publisher approved pre or post print to Lenus (just select the ‘submit’ option on the Lenus home page.   

Benefits of adding your work to Lenus :

• Wider dissemination (Lenus had 2.7 million searches in 2017 & items are more discoverable in Google).
• Increased citation rates (evidence of citation advantage for open access articles - 2016 Study by Archambault et al linked Open Access publication to an increase of up to 50% in citation rates over subscription accessed journals).  
• Publicly funded research & research of public interest available without paywalls or subscriptions.      

NHLKS offers evidence searches to HSE staff involved in research. This service should not be used for academic course work. Library staff are available to provide training on literature searching if required. Please contact your local NHLKS Library for further information

Effective database searching is a skill. HSE librarians provide training on how to search databases. Please contact your local NHLKS library for more information.