Health Professions Library

Limited operation during the summer holidays and other periods without classes

8–19 July and 29 July until 13 September
Mon–Thu: 9 am–1 pm and 2 pm–5 pm
Fri: 9 am–1 pm

The NEBIS catalogue lists all holdings of the Health Professions Library. There is a monthly list of the library’s latest acquisitions. Registered users can submit purchase requests.

Swissbib grün allows you to carry out a central search in the library catalogues of all Swiss universities, universities of applied sciences and the Swiss National Library.

Swissbib orange allows you to search the catalogues of all libraries in Bern and Basel. This does not include the libraries of the BFH Department of Architecture, Wood and Civil Engineering (AHB) or the Department of Engineering and Information Technology (TI) in Biel and Burgdorf.

Swiss National Library NB Everything published by Swiss authors or in and about Switzerland.

Karlsruher Virtuelle Katalog (KVK): A meta catalogue of citations for more than 500 million books and journals in the catalogues of libraries and bookshops worldwide.

Book trade catalogues

Studentische Buchgenossenschaft Bern, Buchhandlung für Medizin

The universities of applied sciences have licensed around 70 databases for their various divisions through the Consortium of Swiss Academic Libraries. All staff and students of the universities of applied sciences have free, on-campus access to these databases. Members of Bern University of Applied Sciences are free to use a VPN (Virtual Private Network) to access the databases externally.

Embase is a biomedical, pharmacological database. It contains bibliographical information (including citations and abstracts) of biomedical journals that are subject to peer review.

The Joanna Briggs Institute was founded in 1996. It is a leading institution in the field of evidence-based healthcare. A part of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Adelaide, South Australia, the JBI collaborates with more than 70 institutions, centres and other groups worldwide. Introduction to the Joanna Briggs Institute EBP Database (webcast, 6 minutes).

A reference database with entries from more than 4,600 journals in the field of food science, food technology and nutrition.

An evidence-based, global resource for dietetic practice. Developed by Dietitians of Canada and operated in collaboration with the British Dietetic Association, Dietitians Association of Australia and Dietitians of Canada.

Approximately 37,000 standards from the SN (INB/SWISSMEM), ISO and Electrosuisse collections. Access from within the BFH network or via a VPN. A login is required, see Intranet.

More than 10,000 abstracts of the world’s best business books in three languages. For unrestricted access, please register your personal account.

Freely accessible databases

Cochrane Reviews systematically summarise the results of research in the fields of healthcare and healthcare policy (in English). These reviews constitute an acknowledged, international quality standard for evidence-based healthcare. Brief guide

A selection of reviews summarised in German. Focus areas: Public health, physiotherapy, urology, nursing sciences, obstetrics and current issues.

A bibliographical reference database for the entire medical field, more than 16 million quotes. Comprises MEDLINE (since 1966, with MESH) and OLDMEDLINE (1949–1965, without MESH).

The search space for the life sciences (standard search) currently (January 2016) contains content from 24 data sources from the ZB MED subjects of medicine/healthcare, nutrition, environment and agriculture, e.g. MEDLINE (=PubMed), AGRICOLA, AGRIS, ZB MED catalogues, articles from German journals about the ZB MED Current Contents services (CC MED/CC GREEN), etc.

bibnet.org is a collaborative, freely accessible literature database. Bibnet.org is operated by a working group from the association ‘Netzwerk Fachbibliotheken Gesundheit’ in collaboration with libraries from Switzerland, Germany and Austria.
The database currently contains more than 1,000,000 data sets from more than 1,300 analysed journals dating from 1969 onwards.

Search for academic literature (journal articles, theses, dissertations, books, pre-prints, abstracts, technical reports, etc. with or without full-text access).

This database contains published studies that explore correlations between what happens during the primal period (foetal life, perinatal period, and year following birth) and what happens later on in terms of health and personality traits.

PEDro is the Physiotherapy Evidence Database. PEDro is a freely accessible database containing more than 22,000 randomised and controlled studies, systematic reviews and practical clinical guides in the field of physiotherapy.

The EZB contains login data for all eJournals that can be accessed from the BFH campus. Members of Bern University of Applied Sciences are free to use a VPN (Virtual Private Network) to access the databases externally.

The NEBIS catalogue lists all available print journals and some eJournals. Tip: Use the ‘title’ field rather than ‘all fields’ to search for journal titles.

Rate journals

Choose the right journal for your research.

(Leipzig University Library)

Other journal catalogues

Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) Online directory that indexes and provides access to quality open-access, peer-reviewed journals.

Schweizer Zeitschriftenportal A directory of print and electronic journals held in Swiss libraries. Does not support direct searches for journal articles/studies.

Deutsche Zeitschriftendatenbank A directory of print and electronic journals held in German libraries. Contains more than 1.5 million titles in all languages, dating back to the year 1500. Does not support direct searches for journal articles/studies.

Concise definition of medical and related terms. English translations.

A unique anatomy atlas. Multilingual. Currently only available on PC/Mac, no mobile app.
Check browser compatibility. Quick start guide. Video tutorial.

Muscle and Motion
PC/Mac login – iPad app download - Android tablet app download

Springer Medizin (German). All books from 2010 to 2018 and the Springer Reference works are accessible (German).

A platform for media published by Beltz, Beltz Juventa, Kohlhammer, Lambertus, transcript.

Other (German)

Login data is available from the Intranet (for members of Bern University of Applied Sciences, Department of Health Professions). The assessments have also been published as books: For references, see the NEBIS catalogue.

Specialist information for diabetes counsellors. Login data is available from the Intranet (for members of Bern University of Applied Sciences, Department of Health Professions).

More than 10,000 abstracts of the world’s best business books in three languages. For unrestricted access, please register your personal account.

More than 1,100 eBooks on business and management.

Other (English)

Cambridge University Press eBooks, including the medicine collection of 2009–2011.

An encyclopaedia of human nutrition.

This series is accessible online from issue 74 onwards. Individual issues are available in print from the Health Professions Library. Original title of the series: Nestlé Nutrition Workshop Series: Pediatric Program.

Books, papers, statistics, factbook, glossaries. User manual in German.

More than 800 eBooks about research methods (qualitative, quantitative, mixed-method). Also contains dictionaries, encyclopaedias, journal articles, guide books and videos for beginners. For useful search options, see Research Tools.

Freely accessible eBooks

A search portal for peer-reviewed, open-access books. Primarily English-language books, some works in other languages.

Digital library of anatomy information.

The Department of Health publishes a list of speciality pharmaceuticals and ready-made medicinal products (including prices) that can be covered by basic health insurance. The list contains branded drugs and their more affordable generic substitutes.

AHRQ is an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Its main aim is improving safety and quality in healthcare by producing evidence.

Guidelines of the members of the AWMF (Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Wissenschaftlichen Medizinischen Fachgesellschaften).

Cochrane Switzerland is a part of the global, independent Cochrane network of academics, healthcare professionals and patients from more than 120 countries. Cochrane publishes systematic reviews to facilitate better decision-making in healthcare.

Information pages of the standing guideline committee of DEGAM (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Allgemeinmedizin und Familienmedizin).

‘Evidence-based thinking about healthcare’. English-language healthcare information for consumers and professionals.

The Horten Centre is an institute for practical research. It offers edited, practical information to facilitate the transfer of academic knowledge into practice.

Tutorial produced by Duke University Medical Center Library and Health Sciences Library, UNC-Chapel Hill.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) provides guidance, sets quality standards and manages a national database to improve people’s health and prevent and treat ill health (UK).

Evidence in Health and Social Care. NHS Evidence is a service that enables access to authoritative clinical and non-clinical evidence and best practice through a web-based portal. It is managed by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).

The search function of the TRIP database yields evidence-based online guidelines and standardised literature about the searched topic.

The objective of the LID is to provide the general public with information about all agricultural issues and foster mutual understanding between the agricultural and non-agricultural sectors of the population.

See Chapter 6.2.3 Unpublished and ongoing studies, and 6.2.2.4 Conference abstracts or proceedings

ChildbirthConnection.org, your source for trustworthy up-to-date, evidence-based information and resources on planning for pregnancy, labour and birth, and the postpartum period. Founded in 1918, Childbirth Connection is a national not-for-profit organisation dedicated to improving the quality of maternity care. We promote safe, effective and satisfying, evidence-based maternity care for all women and families.

Abteilung für Unterrichtsmedien, Bern

The Geburtskanal (‘birth canal’) project is a private initiative run by midwives: a collection of useful links.

Short, engaging videos provide a simple and effective solution to help health workers and communities gain the knowledge and basic skills that can save people’s lives.

RHL, the WHO Reproductive Health Library Video library A set of training videos to help clinicians master details of manual or surgical procedures

Find the right place for you to give birth. Use our unique Birth Choice tool to decide where you want to give birth. Understand your maternity options, get expert advice and find local places that are the best fit for you (UK).

An info booklet produced by midwives, paediatricians and anaesthetists [Switzerland].

An online course in embryology for medical students Developed by the Universities of Fribourg, Lausanne and Bern (Switzerland) with support from the Swiss Virtual Campus.

Produced by the Institute for Medical Education (IML), Department for Education and Media (AUM), Medical Faculty of the University of Bern.

Access to Advice for Mothers and Fathers (MVB), Parenting Advice from the Employers’ Association of Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein (AGMV), and the Swiss Association of Maternal Advisors (SVM).

ChildbirthConnection.org, your source for trustworthy up-to-date, evidence-based information and resources on planning for pregnancy, labour and birth, and the postpartum period. Founded in 1918, Childbirth Connection is a national not-for-profit organisation dedicated to improving the quality of maternity care. We promote safe, effective and satisfying, evidence-based maternity care for all women and families.

11 fact sheets on the state of women’s politics and equal opportunities in Switzerland.

The primary feature of this site consists of 442 specialist chapters on women’s medicine, plus 53 supplementary chapters, authored by over 650 expert contributors citing more than 40,000 references.

A platform for the exchange of information among gynaecologists and patients in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Menstrual cycle

A collaboration of the Department for Endocrinology at the Women’s Hospital of the University of Bern, the Department for Education and Media (AUM) and the Institute of Education and Professional Development (IAWF), Medical Faculty, University of Bern.

A collaboration of the Department for Endocrinology at the Women’s Hospital of the University of Bern, the Department for Education and Media (AUM) and the Institute of Education and Professional Development (IAWF), Medical Faculty, University of Bern.

An award-winning charity website that lets you share in other people’s experiences of health and illness.

The foundation Health On the Net (HON) works to improve the quality of health-related information online and advocates their appropriate, efficient use.

The German Medical Forum is a discussion platform that aims to improve the transparency and accessibility of medical and healthcare discourse to the general public.

Consumer information published by the independent institute IQWiG (Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care) (Germany).

The foundation Health On the Net (HON) works to improve the quality of health-related information online and advocates their appropriate, efficient use.

Knowledge for Health is implemented by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health/Center for Communication Programs and is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Office of Global Health.

Authoritative medical information for consumers provided by physicians on conditions, diseases, tests and procedures.

National register of health professions (Switzerland).

The Swiss portal of health and medicine for consumers (by Medicsope).

FORWARD (Foundation for Women’s Health Research and Development) is an African Diaspora women-led UK-registered campaign and support charity dedicated to advancing and safeguarding the sexual and reproductive health and rights of African girls and women.

Dedicated to promoting and protecting the health of women and children primarily in West Africa, the Western Balkans and Haiti.

Publisher: Swiss Red Cross. migesplus.ch aims to give migrants in Switzerland equal access to healthcare information.

The Brazelton Institute is dedicated to promoting the healthy development of infants and families, through research and education programmes for people who care for children and their families in the first years of life.

Our videos ‘bring to life’ critical healthcare information for providers and populations in low-resource settings. Worldwide distribution is achieved at low cost via the Internet and mobile phones.

A photo gallery with pictures of healthy and ill newborns

Pediatric digital health sciences library curated by Donna M. D’Alessandro M.D. and Michael P. D’Alessandro, M.D. since 2006 (predecessors date back to 1992).

PflegeWiki is a multilingual Wiki project for the field of nursing. Volunteers have been populating it with content since 15 August 2004.

Nutrition

Network for nutrition and health (Switzerland)

The EURO-PERISTAT project’s goal is to monitor and evaluate maternal and child health in the perinatal period – pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum – in Europe using valid and reliable indicators.

The WHO Statistical Information System (WHOSIS) has been incorporated into the Global Health Observatory (GHO) to provide you with more data, more tools, more analysis and more reports.

1.

Scope

These conditions of use apply to the following NEBIS libraries of Bern University of Applied Sciences:

These libraries are members of NEBIS, the Network of Libraries and Information Centres in Switzerland, and IDS, the Information Association of German-speaking Switzerland.

2.

Right to use

The libraries of Bern University of Applied Sciences supply information and literature to researchers, teachers and students of Bern University of Applied Sciences.

It is also open to other interested individuals.

Access to BFH libraries is provided free of charge with the exception of some specific services.

Please refer to our fine structure below.

3.

Registration

• You need to register with the library to borrow media and use other services.

• The NEBIS catalogue contains an online registration form.

• If you already possess an IDS library card, you do not need to register again.

• The main library electronically stores the following data when your user account is approved:

• surname, first name, date of birth, address, telephone number, email address, student number, user group.

• The IDS uses the same data to register you.

• You can also use your personal user number and the corresponding password for ordering, reserving and borrowing media from all other IDS libraries.

• To view your stored data, access your personal user account.

• By registering an account, the user accepts our conditions of use.

4.

User ID and user account

• A user ID is required to borrow books.

• All user IDs are personalised and non-transferable.

• You must produce a valid, official picture ID to obtain your user ID.

• Students and members can use their BFH card as a user ID.

• If you lose your user ID, please inform the main library or the customer support team of the ETH library immediately.

• If your address changes, please inform a NEBIS library or update your user profile yourself.

• You can request a new password if you forget yours.

• To do so, contact your main library or the customer support team of the ETH library and state your name, user number, address, telephone number and date of birth.

5.

Copyright issues and utilisation of media

• All media held by the library are subject to copyright law and must be used for personal purposes only.

• Transfer to third parties and commercial use are not permissible.

• The onus is on the user to comply with copyright laws.

• BFH accepts no liability for any copyright violations.

6.

Internet use

• The computer stations are primarily provided for accessing the online services of the BFH libraries and conducting academic, professional or career research.

• All users are obliged to comply with the law when using the Internet.

• For information about personal liability, abuse and potential consequences, please refer to ‘Profile + Values’ in the section ‘Legal foundations’ for using IT resources at Bern University of Applied Sciences.

7.

Liability

• Please treat all media with care.

• Repairs and replacements will be charged to the person responsible for the damage or loss.

• The last user of a borrowed medium is fully liable for any damage or loss incurred during their borrowing period.

• Existing damage or missing components (data carriers, foils, cards, etc.) must be reported immediately and no later than at the moment of return.

• Use media at your own risk.

• BFH accepts no liability.

8.

Conduct inside the library

• Users of the library facilities must conduct themselves in a way that does not interfere with the legitimate requirements of others, obstruct library operations or damage the stock or facilities.

• Users must comply with instructions from library staff.

• Failure to do so may result in removal from the library.

• Repeated or severe violations of the conditions of use may result in a ban from the library.

November 2015

9.

Borrowing conditions

• The majority of media held in the library may be borrowed.

• Certain items can only be used on site.

• You can borrow media on site (at the front desk), by online check-out wherever this option is available, or by ordering them online from the library catalogue. Please produce your user ID when picking up ordered materials at the library.

• Media that have been borrowed by another user can be reserved online through the NEBIS catalogue.

• Once ordered or reserved media become available, they can be picked up at the front desk during the library opening hours.

• Treat borrowed media with care, protect them from damage and return them intact and complete.

• Marking and highlighting is considered damage (see Liability).

10.

Posting of media and copies

• The BFH libraries will send its users media from their own stock in the post for a fee.

• You can order media from other libraries to your main library using the NEBIS lending network.

• For a list of libraries that are part of the NEBIS lending network (NAV), see www.nebis.ch/Verbund/NEBIS-Bibliotheken (column titled ‘NAV’).

• The supplying library’s general conditions of use apply.

• Not all BFH libraries offer a postal service and an inter-library loan service.

11.

Loan periods and renewals

• The standard loan periods are 28 days for books, 14 days for other media (e.g. DVDs) and 3 days for circulating journals.

• You can see your return dates in your user account.

• Unless the borrowed media are requested by another user, the initial loan period is automatically renewed twice.

• After the automatic renewal period, you can renew the medium up to three times manually in your user account.

• You must return the medium after the maximum loan period has expired.

• If the medium has not been reserved by another user, you can borrow it again from the front desk.

• All media can be reserved by other users at any time; reserved media are recalled after their current loan period expires.

• If you are going to be absent for a period exceeding the loan period (military service, holidays, stay abroad etc.), you must return the borrowed media before your departure.

12.

Overdue notices

• The onus is on you to return your borrowed media on time.

• Non-receipt of overdue notices (by post or email) does not constitute a valid reason for late returns.

• Complaints are not accepted.

• If a loan period has been exceeded or a medium has been requested by another user, we will send the following reminders in the post and charge the following fines:

• The third overdue notice is sent by post. Your user account will be locked at the same time.

• If the medium is not returned after the third overdue notice, it will be marked as lost.

• The person responsible for the loss must replace the medium and pay a processing fee.

• You can request an invoice for your fines (exception:

• HKB multimedia library).

• If no invoice has been issued, you can pay in cash at the front desk.

• The libraries are under no obligation to store details about overdue notices and fines for an extended period of time. They are erased after three months.

13.

Returning media

• Borrowed media must be returned to your main library or a member library of the NEBIS lending network.

• Some libraries allow you to return media outside of the library opening hours by depositing them into a returns box.

• Postal returns are accepted.

• Users must return all borrowed media on time.

• The return date is the date on which the borrowed media are marked as returned.

• Users are liable for the belated delivery of postal returns, damage and losses.

November 2015

Please comply with the terms and conditions of the publishing houses/providers.

In general, the following rules apply:

• Only members of Bern University of Applied Sciences (BFH) may access the full-text versions.

• In certain cases, access is restricted to individual departments of BFH.

• Systematic downloading of articles or search results is prohibited.

• Full-text articles may only be printed or saved for personal use.

• Users are prohibited from sharing articles (printed as well as electronic) with third parties.

• Do not remove, edit or override the content and layout of the articles in any way.

• For example:

• identifying features such as the name of author and publisher, copyright notes, logos and brands.

If the publishing houses/providers detect a violation of their conditions of use, access to full-text articles may be revoked.

Arzneimittelkompendium

Members of the Department of Health Professions, Bern University of Applied Sciences only.

Assessments (IGPTR)

Members of the Department of Health Professions, Bern University of Applied Sciences only.

Diabetes-Ordner

Members of the Department of Health Professions, Nutrition/Dietetics and Nursing divisions, Bern University of Applied Sciences only.

Muscle and Motion

Members of the Department of Health Professions, Bachelor’s Degree in Physiotherapy, Bern University of Applied Sciences only.

e-NORM

Members of Bern University of Applied Sciences only (access from the BFH network or externally via a VPN).

An additional login is required.

Journals

The login data required to access eJournals is available from the electronic journal library. If you are logged onto the BFH network on campus or using a VPN connection from an external location, you normally do not need a password.

A very small number of journals require additional login details. Please consult the Intranet to find these details.

• Information/help
• Introductory tutorials for using the library
• Training sessions and workshops on database research
• Introductory tutorials on literature management
• Online reservation of media (front desk pick-up)
• Pick-up location for media from external NEBIS network libraries
• Self-checkout
• Postal delivery of media
• Returns box during library closures
• We are happy to accept suggestions for new purchases
• Lists of new acquisitions
• Public research PCs
• Internet/Wi-Fi
• External access via a virtual private network (VPN)
• Copier
• Book scanner
• Journal corner
• Quiet desks with or without a PC