The course Medical Information Retrieval and Management at Southern Medical University is a fundamental, practice-oriented, and highly applied course that teaches the principles and methods of medical literature retrieval. It is an essential course in higher education aimed at cultivating the information literacy of medical students. Designed to cultivate medical students’ information literacy, it enables students to understand types of medical literature and the basic principles of information retrieval; become familiar with major medical database types and their usage; and, starting from a problem or research topic, use various databases and open web resources to locate relevant research quickly, accurately, and comprehensively. Students learn to synthesize and evaluate the materials they gather, thereby strengthening their searching, appraisal, critical-thinking, and communication skills. The course provides a strong foundation for future research and teaching, as well as for applying evidence-based medicine in clinical practice. The course has been developed as a Guangdong Provincial Quality Resource-Sharing Course (http://192.168.169.26/yxxx/), a Guangdong Provincial Graduate Demonstration Course (http://lib.smu.edu.cn:81/), and an international student course (http://202.192.1.46/en/Class.aspx?id=4).

Medical Information Retrieval & Management – Course Content

Based on students’ practical needs and the current database landscape, some less practical topics have been removed, contact hours for Chinese-language literature retrieval have been increased, and highly practical, hands-on modules—such as citation information retrieval—have been added. The specific teaching content is tailored to each class type accordingly.

The specific contents are as followed:

(1) Undergraduate Program (32 Credit Hours)

Session	Course Content	Credit Hours
1	Introduction	2
2	Library Resources and Services Overview	2
3	Chinese Bibliographic Information Retrieval	2
4	Chinese Full-Text Information Retrieval	2
5	Discussion & Key Points Learning 1	2
6	Patent Information Retrieval	2
7	Discussion & Key Points Learning 2	2
8	PubMed (Part 1)	3
9	PubMed (Part 2)	3
10	Citation Analysis and Retrieval	3
11	Reference Management Software	3
12	Comprehensive Practice Session	3
13	Examination	3

 

(2) Clinical Medical (8-Year program) 48 Credit Hours (Stage I: 32 | Stage II: 16)

Stage I
Session	Course Content	Credit Hours
1	Introduction	2
2	Library Resources and Services Overview	3
3	Chinese Bibliographic Information Retrieval	3
4	Chinese Full-Text Information Retrieval	3
5	International Bibliographic Information Retrieval	6
6	Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM) Search Strategies	3
7	Reference Management Software	3
8	Presentation	6
9	Stage I Assessment	3
Stage II
Session	Course Content	Credit Hours
1	Patent Information Retrieval	2
2	Full-Text Access and Document Delivery	2
3	EndNote	2
4	Discussion & Key Points Learning 1	2
5	Literature Mining and Scientific Innovation Tools	2
6	Novelty Search and Literature Analysis	2
7	Discussion & Key Points Learning 2	2
8	Stage II Assessment	2

 

(3) Three-Year College Program (32 Credit Hours）

Session	Course Content	Credit Hours
1	Introduction	2
2	Library Resources and Services Overview	2
3	Accessing Chinese Bibliographic Information	2
4	Accessing Chinese Full-Text Information	2
5	Discussion & Key Points Learning 1	2
6	Patent Information Retrieval	2
7	Discussion & Key Points Learning 2	2
8	PubMed (Part 1)	3
9	PubMed (Part 2)	3
10	Citation Analysis and Retrieval	3
11	Reference Management Software	3
12	Comprehensive Practice Session	3
13	Examination	3

 

(4) Academic Master's Student (36 Credit Hours)

Session	Course Content	Credit Hours
1	Introduction	2
2	Chinese Bibliographic Information Retrieval	3
3	International Bibliographic Information Retrieval	6
4	Patent Information Retrieval	3
5	Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM) Search Strategies	3
6	Foreign Language Full-Text Databases and Full-Text Access	3
7	Citation Analysis and Retrieval	3
8	Reference Management Software	3
9	Novelty Search and Literature Analysis	3
10	Comprehensive Practice Session	3
11	Examination	3

 

(5) Professional Master's Student (18 Credit Hours)

Session	Course Content	Credit Hours
1	Chinese Bibliographic Information Retrieval	3
2	International Bibliographic Information Retrieval	6
3	Citation Analysis and Retrieval	3
4	Reference Management Software	3
5	Examination	3

 

Medical Information Retrieval and Management Assessment Method

(1) Overall Course Grade Composition:

The final course grade consists of two parts: Regular Quizzes: 30%, Final Exam: 70%.

For the 8-Year Program, Stage II assessment consists of three parts: Regular Quizzes: 20%, Assignments: 20%, Final Exam: 60%

(2) Final Exam Format:

1. The traditional written exam format has been replaced by a combination of a written test and a practical computer-based operation, focusing on assessing students' hands-on retrieval skills.

2. Based on the course content, the final exam consists of 7 comprehensive retrieval questions.

(For the 8-Year Program, Stage II: A comprehensive literature research topic is assigned.)

This approach: 1. Eliminates rote memorization, significantly reducing the student burden.2. Better evaluates students' practical retrieval abilities and search strategies.

(3) Exam Paper Design:

1. The written exam papers are designed according to standard university formatting requirements. Two essentially equivalent versions (Paper A and Paper B) are prepared two weeks prior to the exam.

2. As this is a 1.5-credit course, the exam is designed for a 90-minute duration.

 

Course Secretary: Bai Lu

Phone: 020-61648053

Email: forbailu@qq.com