(Have you entered our giveaway yet for IAFN conference registration?)
Yesterday a reader reminded me that for all of my discussion about reading research on FHO, I never really talk about the best way to make it *easier* to identify relevant research. “There’s so much” and “it’s so overwhelming” are frequent complaints I hear when I discuss the issue at testimony workshops. So what are the top 3 tools I suggest for staying on top of the mountain of research that’s published every month?
**Here (FHO) is a pretty good place to begin. Between the Articles of Note, the reviews in the store, and the other publications I highlight in posts throughout the year, one of the reasons I keep FHO going is to bring the science to the profession on the regular. Subscribing makes it even easier.
**Automate your searches through email alerts. To keep my inbox from becoming completely overloaded, I subscribe to alerts from two places: Google Scholar and PubMed. I have a significant number of research terms for which I have alerts set up, so I still get a ridiculous amount of email traffic, but you can decide for yourself what’s most important/relevant/urgent and make alterations as you see fit. Depending on your access, there are a variety of other databases (e.g. ProQuest, EBSCO) for which you can set up alerts. Ask your university or hospital librarians if you’re not sure what’s available.
**Subscribe to journal email alerts. Your favorite journals allow you to subscribe to things like alerts for newly published articles online, or full tables of contents. Go to individual journals or check out JournalTOCs to make the process more efficient.
As I’ve said on many occasions, reading is part of the job. But locating the research doesn’t need to be difficult or overwhelming. Hope this helps steer folks in a manageable direction.
___________________________________________________________________
Have you checked out the FHO store lately? You can find our newest research brief, Aging Bruises Based On Color, plus our original guide, Injury Following Consensual Sex. Both available now for electronic download.