If you want, the site can automatically use the expanded set of search terms to search general search engines such as AltaVista, InfoSeek, HotBot or WebCrawler. PubMed is the Web's free version of Medline, which contains abstracts from numerous professional medical journals. If the journal publisher has a Web site that offers full text, PubMed provides links to that site. Though the information age overload may seem daunting, a little practice and a basic understanding of how search engines work can go a long way toward helping doctors get comfortable with search sites. Back to top.
Directories yield a smaller, but more focused number of hits.
Search engines are best when gathering a broad base of material. Metasearch engines search multiple search sites, consolidating the results on a single page. Medical search engines are best when seeking documents from medical literature such as journals, textbooks or patient handouts. Back to top.