Physical Therapy Resources

This list of library resources is intended to aid you in your research in the field of Physical Therapy. Electronic indexes available through the Library are listed first, print sources second, and internet resources last. This handout is meant to be a guide, not to answer specific questions. Please consult a librarian at the Reference Desk for more detailed assistance. You may also call to schedule an appointment (941-4000).

Annual Reviews
Provides annual reviews of the primary literature to over 29 fields in three subject areas (biology and medical sciences, physical sciences, and social sciences). Full-text from 1996 to the present and contains a searchable database for bibliographic records from 1984-1995. This database is updated annually.

ArticleFirst
Contains bibliographic citations that describe items listed on the table of contents pages of approximately 12,500 journals including science, technology, medicine, and social science journals. Each record describes one article, news story, letter, or other item. Covers the time period of 1990 to the present and is updated daily.

CINAHL with Full Text
The Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature contains citations to articles published in more than 1,200 journals. There are some full-text articles. CINAHL indexes selected books, book chapters, pamphlets, pamphlet chapters, dissertations and master’s theses, audiovisuals, and software.

ECO Electronic Collections OnLine
Contains full-text articles for over 2000 journals. The database is multi-disciplinary and covers agriculture, business, economics, education, geography, history, law, medicine, political science, and religion. The span of coverage is 1995 to the present, and the database is updated daily.

Lexis-Nexis
Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe is an valuable source for both legal information (including health care law) and news information (including medical news).

Kluwer Online
Kluwer provides electronic access to 720+ full text journals of Kluwer Academic Publishers. Subjects covered include science and technology, biological, agricultural and environmental sciences, medicine, business, humanities and social sciences, and law; coverage is from 1995 to the present. A PDF icon will lead to the full text articles.

JAMA
Access the full-text of archival copies of articles from this journal. Contact the Reference Desk for the User Name and Password.

MEDLINE/PubMed
PubMed, the search engine developed by the National Library of Medicine, provides free public access to MEDLINE, a database of more than 10 million bibliographic citations and abstracts in the fields of medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, health care systems, and preclinical sciences. Coverage extends back to 1966 and new material is incorporated weekly.

MEDSCAPE
Access to Medscape is free, but it requires a one-time membership registration. Medscape is organized by medical specialty, with each supported specialty having its own custom web site. The content comes from an assortment of sources including: clinical e-journals, more than 50 medical journals and textbooks, professional medical news from Reuters, MedscapeWire, and medical news journal publishers, business and finance publishers, managed care and medical practice publishers, and more. This Internet site is updated daily, and it contains links to MEDLINE as well as other web-based medical sites.

ProQuest
ProQuest Nursing Journals indexes more than 250 journals in nursing and allied health fields. Users can search by issuse, by keyworod or by combining search criteria. Approximately 60% of the articles are full text and may be e-mailed, printed or downloaded.

Physiotherapy Evidence Database
A publicly available database maintained by the Center for Evidence-Based Phsyiotherapy in Australia, PEDro provides bibliographic citations and abstracts of randomized controlled trails and systematic reviews in physical therapy or physiotherappy as it's called in Australia.

Science Direct
Currently offers full-text electronic access to over 290 journals. Coverage is generally for the last 2-3 years of a journal, depending on publisher. To limit your search to full-text journals, click on the 'Search' button, select the 'Journals' tab, and at the 'Source' drop-down menu choose 'Subscribed journals.' You may either print or download articles to disk in PDF format.

WilsonWeb
Wilson Web hosts some databases relevant to PT, including Applied Science Full Text (for biomedical technology) and General Science Full Text (for medical information).

The following books are found in the Reference section of the Library, and are arranged here by format.

Dictionaries and Encyclopedias

American heritage Stedman’s medical dictionary. A standard medical dictionary. Look for others in close proximity to this call number, including Dorland’s and Black’s. [REF R121 .A53 1995]

Dictionary of rehabilitation. Based on the Dictionary of rehabilitation medicine by Herman L. Kamenetz, MD. Includes bibliographical references. Section I covers vocabulary, Section II, rehabilitation organizations, and Section III, health care abbreviations and symbols. [REF RM930 .D455 1995]

The Gale encyclopedia of medicine. A five-volume set containing articles on common medical disorders, conditions, tests, treatments and therapies, in alphahabetical order, with an index to all the volumes in the final volume. Intended to fill “the gap between basic consumer health sources… and highly technical professional materials.” [REF RC 41 .G35 1999]

Quick reference dictionary for physical therapy. Edited by Jennifer M. Bottomley.
Defines more than 2800 terms, concepts, and conditions in the field of physical therapy. Includes 40 appendices such as selected APTA documents. Provides lists of frequently used and standardized acronyms and abbreviations for words, medical roots, commonly used acronyms for evaluative tests and measures, and guidelines for documentation. [REF RM696.5 .Q85 2000]

Stedman's orthopaedic & rehab words. Subtitle is "includes chiropractic, occupational therapy, physical therapy, podiatric, & sports medicine." [REF RD723 .S74 2003]

Directories

AHA guide to the health care field. Published by the American Hospital Association, this is a comprehensive directory of accredited United States hospitals, long term care facilities, health organizations and agencies. Hospitals with Occupational Therapy Services or Rehabilitation Inpatient or Outpatient Units can be readily identified by the “Facility Codes.” [REF DESK RA 977 .A44]

Handbooks

The Merck manual of diagnosis and therapy. Periodically updated, this authoritative source lists entries containing a definition or description of various disorders, their etiology, signs and symptoms, diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment. [REF RC55 .M4 1992]

Physician’s Desk Reference. Annually updated, this is the most commonly used source for information about currently available prescription drugs. It includes generic trade name and product category indexes, as well as a very useful picture identification section. [REF DESK RS75]

Testing

National physical therapy examination: review & study guide. Best used as a starting point for studying for the National Physical Therapy Examination (NPTE). [REF RM701.6 .O88 2002]

Statistics

Health, United States, [year]. Updated annually, this source presents statistics concerning recent trends in the health care sector. Also available online on the National Center for Health Statistics' Web site, http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/default.htm. [REF DESK RA407.3 U57]

Style Manuals/Writing

American Medical Association manual of style: a guide for authors and editors. A style guide for medical writing, including how to cite sources, published by the AMA. Kept at the Reference Desk. [REF DESK R119 .A533 1998]

Research primer in occupational and physical therapy. Charlotte B. Royeen This work covers the basics of research and intends to teach OT students "how to (a) read research, (b) understand the role and 'culture' of research, and (c) use or apply research." [REF RM 735.3 .R69 1997]

Successful scientific writing: a step-by-step guide for the biological and medical sciences. Janice R. Mathews, John M. Bowen, and Robert W. Matthews. "[A] user-friendly book providing detailed practical guidance to help students and researchers in the biological and medical sciences to communicate their work effectively through the published literature." [REF R119 .M28 2000]

There are many excellent sources of information available on the Internet. Listed below are just a few.

American Physical Therapy Association - Links on educational and professional issues, and searchable indexes to Physical Therapy: Journal of the American Physical Therapy Association and PT Magazine.
http://www.apta.org/

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - The CDC’s Website provides health information for your general knowledge.
http://www.cdc.gov

CIRRIE - Center for International Rehabilitation Research Exchange
http://cirrie.buffalo.edu/

Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy - Web site of the organization that develops, maintains, and administers the National Physical Therapy Examinations. Provides information on the online PEAT (Practice Exam and Assessment Tool).
http://www.fsbpt.org/

Hooked on Evidence – APTA members provided access. Requires login. Contains current research evidence on the effectiveness of physical therapy interventions. http://www.hookedonevidence.com/

JAMA Instructions for Authors - Found here are instructions for submitting manuscripts to the Journal of the American Medical Association. Includes examples of how to cite references, using AMA's style.
http://jama.ama-assn.org/ifora_current.dtl

MediLexicon – Contains a dictionary of medical, pharmaceutical, biomedical & healthcare acronyms and abbreviations, plus medical news and searches for the medical, pharmaceutical or healthcare professional.
http://www.pharma-lexicon.com

National Center on Physical Activity and Disability - provides guidelines before starting exercise program; activity factsheets; games, sports and activities that have been adapted for those with disabilities; news; and general information on being physically active.
http://www.ncpad.org/

Pennsylvania Physical Therapy Association - Links to committees, special interest groups and districts of the PPTA.
http://www.ppta.org/