Oregon Legal Research Blog
Lawyers use all sorts of non-legal research resources, including medical ones.
As is the case with any specialized subject research, you need to develop a research strategy to make sure you begin at the beginning, use the right search terms, identify relevant journals and indexes and catalogs, and have a system for recording your progress so you don’t miss anything or duplicate your research.
And, as is the case for any specialized research (e.g. business, law, music, etc.), it helps to consult a specialist – a medical librarian or research specialist in this case.
So, assuming you want to be a little smarter than opposing counsel, do some exploratory medical research of your own and then find a medical librarian who can help you determine if you’ve left out any critical resources.
Onward to Medical Research Resources:
FIRST: Begin at the beginning using RESEARCH GUIDES to medical research resources, e.g.
a) Zimmerman’s Research Guide: Medical Materials
b) There are many medical school and medical library research guides, which are useful for developing a research strategy, but you usually need to be a member of the institution to have access to their databases. See below for free medical databases or contact a public or medical library in your community or state or run a search for your specific topic to find out if a librarian or medical researcher somewhere has compiled a research guide.
c) The Medical Library Association has a: A User’s Guide to Finding and Evaluating Health Information on the Web
SECOND: Dig deeply into the subject: LIBRARIES and DATABASES
The following of libraries will have medical databases and some even have professional medical librarians:
a) Multnomah County Public Library health and medical resources and links
b) OHSU Library resources and links (Portland-metro)
c) Tuality Health Resource Center (Hillsboro)
d) National Library of Medicine, PubMed (Wikipedia entry): Medical research resources
e) National Library of Medicine, Medline Plus (Wikipedia entry): Consumer health resources
THIRD: LOOK for sources of NEW RESEARCH and IDEAS
a) Centers for Disease Control (CDC)
b) Food and Drug Administration