Guides: Physical Therapy: Home

Library e-Resources

Databases to Search for Journal Articles

PubMed
One of the largest biomedical databases, PubMed includes both clinical and basic research. Use a USciences link to PubMed for quick access to the library’s journal holdings. To set up your own account, see How to Create and Use a My NCBI Account (https://guides.library.usciences.edu/myncbi).
CINAHL: Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (via EBSCO)
Index to journals in nursing, medical technology, occupational therapy, physical therapy, physician assistant studies, and other allied heath disciplines. Also includes a selection of pharmacy and pharmacology titles.
• Note: This URL links directly to an EBSCOhost "Advanced Search" page that is set to search only CINAHL.

e-Books and Other Resources

AccessPhysiotherapy
Physical therapy textbooks and other resources from McGraw-Hill.
AccessMedicine
Access to more than 75 medical textbooks and handbooks, along with study guides and supplementary materials.
Cochrane Library (via Wiley)
Includes the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR) and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL). CDSR has both full systematic reviews on specific topics and protocols for systematic reviews in process. CENTRAL contains citations of articles reporting on clinical trials, but it does not include the full text of articles.
DynaMed Plus
DynaMed Plus is a clinical reference tool that practitioners and students can use to find answers to clinical questions. Content is written by a team of physicians and researchers who synthesize the evidence and provide objective analysis. Our subscription provides access to the DynaMed Plus mobile app. For download instructions, click on "more" below.

Downloading the DynaMed Plus mobile app for iPhone or Android:

• Go to DynaMed Plus using the link above.
• In the left "Spotlight" column, click on "Get the DynaMed Plus Mobile App"
• Enter your email address to receive an email with instructions and an authentication key.
• Download the DynaMed Plus app on your device and follow the instructions to authenticate.
• The authentication key is valid for 6 months at a time, at which time you will be asked to reauthenticate your app.
MedAbbrev
Dictionary of medical abbreviations. Based on "Medical Abbreviations: 32,000 Conveniences at the Expense of Communication and Safety, 15th ed." by Dr. Neil M. Davis. Contains "over 37,000 possible meanings for the acronyms, symbols, abbreviations, and slang terms listed."
Merck Manual - Professional Version (via STAT!Ref)
• General medical reference book for health care professionals.
• Companion website available free online at: www.merckmanuals.com/professional

Other e-Resources (available free on the Internet)

Physical Therapy Links

PEDro - Physiotherapy Evidence Database
PEDro includes systematic reviews and randomized controlled trials that are of use to practice in physical therapy. The Institute for Musculoskeletal Health at the University of Sydney School of Public Health produces the PEDro database and Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA) hosts the website.

PTNow
APTA's evidence-based practice portal that provides tools to assist PTs and PTAs in their practice by providing clinically related information of typically treated conditions.

Evidence-Based Practice Links

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Evidence-Based Reports
The agency sponsors reports evaluating information on medical conditions and related topics. AHRQ is an agency of the United States federal government.
Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine (CEBM) (Oxford, England)
The CEBM offers a variety of educational resources on evidence-based medicine for professionals and the public.
Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effectiveness (DARE)
DARE contains critical analyses of systematic reviews. DARE was last updated on March 31, 2015. This site also includes other databases from the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination at the University of York.
Evidence-Based Practice (Health Sciences Library, University of Washington)
This guide contains links to a variety of resources on evidence-based practice.
Introduction to Evidence-Based Practice
Evidence-based practice tutorial produced by Duke University Medical Center Library and the Health Sciences Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
SumSearch2
SumSearch2 searches for evidence at PubMed as well as at other free websites. It is produced at the University of Kansas Wichita School of Medicine and the University of Kansas Medical Center.

Find Journals/Articles by Title

The J.W. England Library maintains both print and electronic subscriptions to many journals. The best way to determine if we have access to a specific journal or article is to look it up in Primo, the library's discovery system.

Finding a Journal:

1. Navigate to the Journal Search page in Primo.

2. Enter all or part of the journal title in the search box and run a search, or click on a letter to browse the list of journals alphabetically.

3. Titles matching your search will be displayed. If you see the title you are interested in, click on the title to see more information, including the coverage options and the years available.

4. Most journals are available electronically. To access the journal online, click on "Online access" or select one of the specific vendor platforms listed in blue in the "View It" section.

5. A select number of journals are available in print+electronic, or print only. Print journals are shelved on the second floor of the library and are denoted in Primo by the following label: J. W. England Library Journals (Second Floor). Be sure to check that the years we have in print match the year of your article before looking for the journal in the stacks.

Finding an Article:

To find a specific article, you can begin by searching for the title in the main Primo search bar. To make sure you retrieve the most complete set of results, sign-in to Primo using your regular USciences username and password.
If you get a large number of results, you can try enclosing the title in quotes to force Primo to do an exact search and narrow down the results.
On the other hand, if you don't see your article in the results list, click on "Expand My Results" on the right-hand side to expand Primo's searching parameters.
Once you find the article title, determine whether we have access to it through the library:
- Full Text--If we have electronic access to the article, Primo will say "Online access". Click the link to be directed to the article.
- No Full Text--If we have the article in print, Primo will say "Available at: J. W. England Library" followed by the location of the volume in the library.
In a small number of cases, we might have access to an article even if it is not listed in Primo. You can also search in PubMed, Google Scholar, or one of our other databases. If you have any questions, Ask a Librarian.

What if the Library Doesn't Have a Journal or Article You Need?

If you need an article from a journal we do not subscribe to, you can request the article via ILLiad, our free interlibrary loan service. Learn more about ILLiad and other interlibrary loan options here. You can place requests in ILLiad either by logging into ILLiad directly or by following the links that appear in Primo when we do not have access to an article.

If you need the article right away, you may be able to visit another library and access it there. There are many other libraries in Philadelphia, several of which are located close to USciences. Learn more about using other libraries.

Search Google Scholar

Google Scholar is Google’s tool for searching scholarly literature.

Just search using the field below. In your search results, look for the Find Full Text USciences link next to individual results and click it to access full text via our e-resource subscriptions. (The link should only appear next to items available in our collection.)
If you do not see the Find Full Text USciences link next to an item, look beneath the citation for a blue chevron sign (>>) and click on it. You may then see a link that says GetIt@USciences that can help you find the full text of the article.

Important Note: Google Scholar's search results are not exhaustive, so do not assume that you have found "everything" on your topic via Scholar. It is just one tool to employ in your searches.

Books & e-Books

There are several ways to search for books and e-books in the library collection:

Primo Search
Primo serves as the library's catalog and discovery system. You can search for print and e-books in Primo, along with other types of resources like journals, scholarly articles, dissertations, and newspaper articles.

Find e-Books
This guide describes the library's major e-book collections and discusses how to search for and download e-books.
EZBorrow
If the library doesn't have a book you need, try E-ZBorrow. E-ZBorrow connects the USciences library with other academic libraries in the region.

Citing Your Sources

AMA Manual of Style, 11th ed.
Writing style guide for medical and scientific publishing. If you see a message that the simultaneous user limit has been exceeded, no more users may log on. Please wait and try again later.

How to Write a Reference
Our guide to commonly used citation styles.

Featured Books from Our Collection

Differential Diagnosis for Physical Therapists by Catherine C. Goodman; Teresa Kelly Snyder
Call Number: WB 460 G653 2013
ISBN: 9781437725438
Publication Date: 2013
This text provides students, physical therapy clinicians and physical therapist assistants with a step-by-step approach to client evaluation, which follows the standards of competency established by the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) related to conducting a screening examination.
• A systems-based approach to differential screening and diagnosis make it easy for Physical Therapists to find information and understand it in light of other systems issues.
• Case studies provide real-world examples.
• New chapter on how physical assessment provides baseline-screening information to better explain the progression of the screening process.
• Includes new information on musculoskeletal problems.
• A separate chapter on pain introduces the concept of pain as a screening tool.
• An entire section is devoted to systematic origins of pain to demonstrate how regional pain should be approached in screening for particular disorders.
• Introductory information on the newer medical screening concepts sets the stage for how screening is presented in the rest of the book.
Guide to Evidence-Based Physical Therapist Practice by Dianne V. Jewell
Call Number: WB 460 J59 2015
ISBN: 9781284034165
Publication Date: 2015
Guide to Evidence-Based Physical Therapist Practice, Third Edition provides readers with the information and tools needed to appreciate the philosophy, history, and value of evidence-based practice, understand what constitutes evidence, search efficiently for applicable evidence in the literature, evaluate the findings in the literature, and integrate the evidence with clinical judgment and individual patient preferences and values.
Physical Therapy for the Stroke Patient by Jan Mehrholz
Call Number: WL 355 M498
ISBN: 9783131547217
Publication Date: 2012
Physical Therapy for the Stroke Patient: Early Stage Rehabilitation covers all the issues that physical therapists must deal with in this critical period: assessment of patients' abilities; care during the acute phase; early mobilization; effects of medication; risk factors; ethical questions; and much more. It provides complete guidelines on how to examine and treat the patient, the dosage of physical therapy required, and the key differences between early and late stage rehabilitation after stroke.

Special Features:
* Information-packed chapter on Optimizing Functional Motor Recovery after Stroke, written by J. Carr and R. Shepherd, pioneers in the field and the first to correlate motor learning and stroke recovery
* Case studies throughout the book offering direct, hands-on examples of evaluation and treatment methods
* Nearly 150 color photographs demonstrating step-by-step physical therapy techniques used in actual practice
* Hundreds of references to the literature that support the evidence-based approach presented in the book

Physical Therapy: Home