Searching the literature using medical subject headings versus text word with PubMed

Objective/Hypothesis: This study was conducted to investigate the performance of two search strategies in the retrieval of information from the National Library of Medicine (NLM) on otolaryngology-head and neck surgery related conditions and diagnoses using PubMed. Methods. Two search strategies-one based on the use of Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) and the second based on text word searching-were compared. Results: The MeSH search provided a more efficient search than the text word search. Conclusions. Head and neck surgeons can most efficiently search the NLM using PubMed as a search engine by initiating the search with MeSH terms. Once a key article is identified, the searcher should use the "Related Articles" feature.