Searching the DrugKnowledge® System

   Table of Contents

	Overview
	Home Page
	Search Capabilities
	Integrated Index Searching
	Free-Text Searching
	Search Rules
	DrugKnowledge® Free-Text Search: Simple Search
	DrugKnowledge® Free-Text Search: Advanced Search
	Boolean and Proximity Operators
	Example Search Tables
	Wildcard Searching
	Using the Document Compare Feature
	Navigation Buttons
	Copying Document Text to the Clipboard
	Printing a Document
	Printing an Entire Page
	Printing Selected Text
	Saving a Document

Overview

The DrugKnowledge® System allows you to search the following databases:

• AltMedDex® System
• DISEASEDEX^™ General Medicine
• DRUGDEX® System
• POISINDEX® System
• MARTINDALE
• Physicians' Desk Reference® (PDR®)
• Index Nominum
• Herbal Medicines: A Guide for Health-Care Professionals

Home Page

On the home page of Corporate Solutions, there are a series of navigation links on the left side of the page:

	Search all products/databases within the ChemKnowledge®, RegsKnowledge™, and DrugKnowledge® Systems using more than 2.1 million synonyms. Regulatory data can be accessed by citation only.
	Conduct a Free-Text/Boolean search within the TOMES Plus®, REPRORISK®, Dolphin, and Fisher/ACROS Systems.
	Conduct a free-text/Boolean search within the DrugKnowledge System. Also allows access to the Micromedex® Healthcare Series.
	Search for Drug and Clinical Trial information in Drug Intelligence from CenterWatch.
	Access regulatory data through the RegsLink Table of Contents, or conduct a Free-Text/Boolean search within the RegsLink System.
	Access Full-Text international regulations or register for the ArielRegGuard™ E-mail service.
	Access the Table of Contents for today's Federal Register within the RegsLink System.

You will also notice a series of navigation links across the top of the page:

	Customize the way you access, search, and use ChemKnowledge®, RegsKnowledge™, and DrugKnowledge® information.
	Lists of recent additions and enhancements to ChemKnowledge®, RegsKnowledge™, and DrugKnowledge® Systems.
	Links to descriptions of all the products available for your PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) from Corporate Solutions. Jump from this page to the download site.
	Access Help for the ChemKnowledge®, RegsKnowledge™, and DrugKnowledge® Systems.
	HOME: Navigate back to the Home Page from anywhere in the system. CONTACT US: Information on how to contact Thomson Healthcare. LOGOUT: Close the session and remove the user from the list of concurrent users.

Search Capabilities

Integrated Index® Searching

Searching for a Drug

1. Click the Integrated Index button on the left side of the initial Corporate Solutions screen.
2. Enter the search term(s) in the Search Text box. Please Note: It is not necessary to enter the entire word, phrase, or number, except in the case of a CAS Number. Simply entering the first few letters or numbers will bring up matches for those characters, and you can scroll up or down in the list to find the exact match you want. When searching by CAS Number, you must enter the complete and accurate CAS Number. Entering an incorrect CAS Number will bring up an error message. However, even when the correct CAS Number is entered, that substance may not be in the DrugKnowledge® System.
3. From the Search Type drop-down list, select the type of search desired (i.e., Plain Text, CAS Number, etc.).
4. Press Enter or click the Search button.
5. Search results most closely matching the search term(s) are presented. Select the desired item to reveal a list of all databases containing the search term(s).
6. Select the desired database to reveal the document outline.
7. Select a section from the outline to view a specific document.

Please Note: Within the Integrated Index feature, you may also search by side-effect, indication, contraindication, precaution, etc.

Free-Text Searching

Search Rules

•Multiple consecutive words in the Boolean Search Boxes are treated as a phrase; they must appear in the same order within a matching document.

•Search terms are not case sensitive -- you can type a search term in uppercase or lowercase.

•You can search for any word except "noise" words (this includes common words such as a, an, and, as, and so on), which are ignored during a search. A complete list of noise words is available for review.

•"Noise" words are treated as placeholders in phrase and proximity searches. For example, if you searched for “right to know”, the results could give you “right to know” and “right and know”, because to is a noise word.

•Punctuation marks such as the period (.), colon (:), semicolon (;), and comma (,) are ignored during a search.

•To search for a word or phrase containing quotation marks, enclose the entire phrase in quotation marks and then double the quotation marks around the word or words you want to surround with quotes. For example, “precautions OR ““interactions””” searches for precautions or “interactions”.

•You can use Boolean Operators (AND, OR, and AND NOT) and the Proximity Operator (NEAR) to specify additional search information within a single search box.

•The Wildcard Character (*) can match words with a given prefix. The search term esc* matches the terms “ESC,” “escape,” and so on.

DrugKnowledge Free-Text Search: Simple Search

A free-text search allows you to use words or phrases to pinpoint the information you need. Choose operators such as and, or, near, and not.

1. Click the DrugKnowledge button.
2. Select the DrugKnowledge System Free-Text Search link.
3. Enter a search term in the first box.
4. Select an operator, or leave the default and.
5. Enter additional search terms in the following boxes (you may enter up to five search terms).
6. To narrow your search, click the Select Databases hypertext, then click the box next to the specific database you want to search (you may select more than one database). If you do not select a specific database, by default all databases will be searched.
7. Click Search.
8. Search results identify all documents in the specified databases containing the search terms within the body text. Click the hypertext to access document outline and text.

DrugKnowledge Free-Text Search: Advanced Search

Use the advanced search option to facilitate long, complex Boolean searches. Click the Advanced button on the initial DrugKnowledge Free-Text Search screen to access this option.

1. Enter search term(s) and operator(s) in the In Title: or In Entire Document: search boxes. Continue adding as many search terms and operators as necessary.
2. To narrow your search, click the Select Databases hypertext, then click the box next to the specific database you want to search (you may select more than one database). If you do not select a specific database, by default all databases will be searched.
3. Click Submit Search.
4. Search results identify all documents in the specified databases containing the search terms within the body text. Click the hypertext to access document outline and text.

Boolean and Proximity Operators

The following Boolean and Proximity Operators are available for use in the Boolean Search Boxes.

Example Search Tables

Boolean and Proximity Operators used in the Boolean Search Boxes can create a more precise search. You can insert operators into search terms instead of, or in addition to, the operators on the right side of each box.

Hints:

•You can add parentheses to nest expressions within a search. The expressions in parentheses are evaluated before the rest of the search. For example, entering "(precautions OR interactions) AND ibuprofen" first searches for pages containing "precautions" or "interactions" (or both), then performs the AND search for pages containing "ibuprofen." The results would return pages containing both "precautions" and "ibuprofen," and also pages contain both "interactions" and "ibuprofen." If you did not use the parentheses in this sample search, the AND expression "interactions AND ibuprofen" would be evaluated before the OR expression. Without the parentheses, the pages found would consist of those containing both "interactions" and "ibuprofen" (including those containing "precautions") and also those containing "precautions," though not containing "interactions" or "ibuprofen."

•Use double quotes (“) to indicate that a Boolean or NEAR operator keyword should be ignored in your search. For example, “Abbott and Costello” will match pages with that phrase, not pages that match the Boolean expression. In addition to being an operator, the word and is a noise word in English.

•The NEAR operator is similar to the AND operator in that NEAR returns a match if both words being searched for are in the same page. However, the NEAR operator differs from AND because the rank assigned by NEAR depends on the proximity of words. That is, the rank of a page with the searched-for words closer together is greater than or equal to the rank of a page where the words are farther apart. If the searched-for words are more than 50 words apart, they are not considered near enough, and the page is assigned a rank of zero.

•The AND operator has a higher precedence than OR. For example, the first three searches are equal, but the fourth is not:

a AND b OR c
c OR a AND b
c OR (a AND b)
(c OR a) AND b

Wildcard Searching

Wildcard operators help you find pages containing words similar to a given word.

Using the Document Comparison Feature

The Document Comparison features allows an Integrated Index search to be initiated at any time without returning to the initial screen, and enables two documents to be viewed side-by-side for easy comparison.

How to use the Document Comparison feature:

1. Once you are in a document, click the Document Comparison button (located in the upper right-hand corner on the toolbar).
2. Select the type of search desired from the Search Type drop-down list.
3. In the Search Text box, enter the search term by a) highlighting the term, then dragging and dropping it into the Search Text box (this option is only available with Internet Explorer 4.0+), b) highlighting the term, then copying and pasting it into the Search Text box, or c) simply typing in the new term.
4. Press Enter or click the Search button.
5. On the left side of the screen, the current document appears. On the right side of the screen, search results for the new term entered using the QuickLink feature appear.
6. Continue clicking the hypertext until you reach the desired document.

You have the option of closing either window at any time by clicking the button.

Navigation Buttons

You may scroll through a document using the scroll bar on the right side of the document screen, or by pressing the Page Up and Page Down keys. Additional navigation is possible through the buttons at the top of and throughout a document:

	Takes you to the previous document section
	Takes you to the next available document section
	Takes you back to the last search screen, allowing a new search of the same type (i.e., Integrated Index, Free-Text, etc.) to be initiated

Copying Document Text to the Clipboard

Once you have a document open in the viewing window, you can copy text to the Windows Clipboard for use in other Windows programs:

1. Highlight the desired text by placing the mouse pointer at the beginning of the text, pressing and holding the mouse button, dragging it to the end of the text, then releasing it. The selected text is shown in reverse video.
2. Select Edit from the menu bar, then select Copy.

Printing a Document

The DrugKnowledge System allows you to print all of a page or only selected text (if available with your browser).

Printing an Entire Page

1. From within the desired page, click the toolbar button, or select Print from the File menu.
2. Select whether you wish to print the entire HTML page or document or a range of printed "pages" within the HTML page.
3. Click OK to begin printing.

From the Print dialog box, you can also set the print quality, number of copies (collated, if desired and available on your printer), and more.

Printing Selected Text (if available with your browser)

1. Select the text you wish to print by placing the mouse pointer at the beginning of the text.
2. Press and hold the mouse button while dragging the pointer to the end of the text.
3. Release the mouse button, and the text appears in reverse video and is "selected."
4. Select the Print toolbar button or menu item to open the Print dialog box.
5. To print the selected text, choose Selection, then press Enter or click OK. Please Note: Selection will be dimmed and unavailable when no document text is selected.

Saving a Document

To save an individual document for future use:

1. Open the document and select Save As File from the File menu.
2. Select the file name and directory to which you wish to save the file in the dialog box.
3. Select the format in which you wish to save the document (HTML or ASCII text).
4. Click OK.

Please Note: Table formatting will be lost when saving documents (this does not occur if using Word).

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