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Table 1 Aspects of queries sent to PubMed.

From: Analysis of queries sent to PubMed at the point of care: Observation of search behaviour in a medical teaching hospital

Aspects

All queries (N = 3205)

 

n(%)

AND used *

1409(44)

OR used *

22(0.7)

NOT used *

6(0.2)

wildcard used †

65(2)

Mesh or Limits used ‡

252(8)

Query result positive §

2521(79)

Abstract selected ||

999(31)

Full text selected ||

456(14)

  1. * Boolean operators. † Asterisk functions as wildcard. ‡ All limits or Mesh terms were identified by the use of square brackets in a query. § One or more article titles retrieved by query. || Queries that resulted in the selection of abstract or full-text articles for further reading.
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BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making

ISSN: 1472-6947

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