PubMed for Handhelds (PubMed4Hh)

What is it?

PubMed for Handhelds (PubMed4Hh) is an app created by the National Library of Medicine to facilitate evidence-based medical practice at the point of care using mobile devices. It allows physicians to access journal abstracts and “The Bottom Line” (TBL) summaries, and to select full-text articles.

How does it work?

On opening the app, the user is presented with a directory of 6 mobile-friendly interfaces for searching PubMed: PICO, Consensus Abstracts, askMEDLINE, BabelMeSH, CQs (Clinical Queries), and Archive.

PICO guides the user through the process of creating a well-formulated clinical query based on entering a patient/problem (medical condition), intervention (therapy, diagnostic test), comparison, outcome, and publication type (clinical trial, meta-analysis, randomized controlled trial, systematic reviews, practice guideline).

Consensus Abstracts displays search results with multiple selected abstracts or TBL’s on the same page. Searches are initiated using the PICO or askMEDLINE format.

askMEDLINE allows the provider to search using natural language, such as “What are therapeutic options for melanoma?” Results can be narrowed by publication type.

BabelMeSH allows MEDLINE searches in 12 languages in addition to English: Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Swedish. It also allows searches using PubMed syntax. For example, “Melanoma[majr]” will restrict citations to those in which melanoma is the major topic or focus of the article and “Melanoma 2002:2004[dp]” will restrict citations to those published between 2002 and 2004.

CQs (Clinical Queries) provides a user interface to add filters for limiting PubMed searches to systematic reviews or a specific emphasis (therapy, diagnosis, etiology, prognosis, clinical prediction guides). Users also can indicate if they prefer a specific (narrow) or sensitive (broad) search. PubMed syntax can be used in this interface.

Archive stores saved search results.

How can it help me?

Because the National Library of Medicine created it, PubMed4Hh is the most reputable and authoritative PubMed search tool for mobile devices. It is excellent for providing access to MEDLINE’s extensive library of journal abstracts and TBL summaries. That being said, the current user interface is confusing and it takes time to become familiar with it. I also do not enjoy being required to learn new syntax to optimize search results. Finally, most of the resources have bugs related to screen space and will not fully display on smartphones, requiring the larger screen of a tablet.

I recommend familiarizing yourself with the application by playing with it in clinic for a couple days, and one of the resources will become your favorite platform for point-of-care retrieval of evidence-based data. I mainly use the Consensus Abstracts resource to view multiple TBLs on the same page. I also have used the syntax “[majr]” to focus searches to my topic and “[dp]” to limit searches to specific dates of publication. Although I do not suggest learning a complete syntax, providers who are interested in expanding their PubMed syntax skills can find a complete tutorial at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/nbk3827.

How can I get it?

PubMed4Hh can be downloaded for free from the Apple App Store, the Google Play Store, and the product Web site.