Databases and software

Quick and easy access to practical tools for the occupational health professional

There is a range of free searchable databases covering General Medical, Toxicological, Occupational and Environmental as well as Safety subjects. In addition there is a link to downloadable free epidemiological and statistical software.

Online medical literature searches

The most widely used database for searching the medical literature is Medline. This is now available for free access from a number of internet providers as listed below. In addition, other medical and related databases can be accessed free from these providers. Each system has its own foibles, advantages and disadvantages and the user must decide which suits him or her best.

  • National Library of Medicine (USA)
    NLM’s PubMed comprises more than 22 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals and online books. Citations may include links to full-text content from PubMed Central and publisher web sites.
  • Medscape
    Medscape offers specialists, primary care physicians and other health professionals robust and integrated medical information and educational tools.
  • Embase
    Embase is a database for biomedical and pharmaceutical literature. The database contains articles from 3,500 journals, dating from 1980. Forty percent of the articles in Embase are also incuded in Medline. The database is compiled by Elsevier Science.

General medical resources for continuing medical education

  • The British Medical Journal
    Access to current and past BMJ abstracts and full text articles including some of the ABC series.
  • Mental Help Net
    A comprehensive searchable resource for professional and self help information about mental ill health.

Searchable safety data sheets

  • EPA Chemical Substance Factsheets
    From the University of Virginia, this is an alphabetical list of chemical factsheets produced by the US Environmental Protection Agency. It is not searchable as such but contains a wealth of useful information.
  • SIRI at Vermont
    Safety Information Resources on the Internet from Vermont have produced a number of searchable safety, occupational and environmental medicine indexes. This is a very comprehensive resource for material safety data sheets and includes links to other similar resources.
  • National Toxicology Program
    Toxicology Data Management System (TDMS) Information about NTPs toxicology study programs.
  • Where to find MSDS on the internet
    This page is brought to you by the Department of Chemistry at the University of Kentucky and represents a comprehensive reference to links for Material Safety Data Sheets.

Searchable archive of OEM and SAFETY mailing lists and the safety forum

  • Mailbase OCCENVMED
    This UK based list has been started by Dr John Harrison in Newcastle and will be of interest to all practitioners of occupational and environmental medicine and occupational health. Its aim is to promote discussion about current issues and to foster a global approach to research and teaching.
  • The SAFETY mailing list archive
    Vermont University used to have a well established Safety mailing list that has been replaced by a new Safety forum. However you can still search the archives of the mailing list.
  • The SAFETY Forum
    SIRI at Vermont have a very well established Safety forum on the Internet. Find out about how to gain membership of the forum and correspond with safety practitioners all round the world.

Software

  • CDC Epi Info™
    Epi Info™ is a series of microcomputer programs for handling epidemiological data in questionnaire format and for organising study designs and results into text that may form part of written reports. A questionnaire can be set up and processed in a few minutes, but Epi Info can also form the basis for a powerful disease surveillance system database with many files and record types. It includes features used by epidemiologists in statistical programs such as SAS or SPSS and database programs like dBASE.
  • ZDNet Downloads
    This is a source of general non medical software, much of which is public domain or shareware.
  • FreePint
    FreePint is a free fortnightly email newsletter aimed at anyone in any business or organisation who wants to find useful information on the Internet. The newsletter contains tips, techniques and a feature article where information professionals tell how and where to find reliable, good quality information on the World Wide Web.

Please note that these sites are not maintained by The University of Manchester and we cannot take any responsibility for the information or software contained in them. If you have any comments about any of these sites or suggestions for others to be included or if there are any access problems, please let us know.