As a BMA member, you can access the Medline and Embase databases anytime to run your own searches or contact our team of information specialists in the Evidence Support team to support you in developing a search strategy or running a search on your behalf.

Medline is the world’s best-known medicine and clinical science database, holding over 25 million references, from over 5,000 journals.

Embase is a leading clinical medicine and biomedical database and holds around 28 million records.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) has impacted almost every aspect of our daily lives, and unsurprisingly in the Evidence Support team, we have noticed an increase in requests for evidence related to the pandemic and the impact it has had on different areas in the medical profession. To make it easier to find this evidence, Medline and Embase have installed a filter that can be applied to your search strategy to retrieve relevant papers.

To get started, please follow the steps below:

1. From the library homepage, click on Access Medline and Embase. You may be prompted to login with your email and password if you haven’t already logged in to the BMA website.

2. From the window below, check the box next to OVID MEDLINE ALL or Embase, depending on which database you would like to search, and then click on OK.

3. After constructing your search strategy, locate the COVID-19 filter beneath the search box. Check the box next to it and click on Search.

4. The COVID-19 filter will then be applied to your search strategy. The below example is on how the mental health of the elderly has been affected during the coronavirus pandemic. The COVID-19 filter has been applied on line 8.

If you need any support or assistance in using Medline and Embase, please book onto an assisted search session where you have the opportunity to discuss your research question with an information specialist, or a search training session where you can learn techniques for carrying out your own searches.