Mosman Library vs That Search Engine: Round 4

Round 4

I have just been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. I want to find out if there is any alternative treatment for it besides what the doctor has prescribed.

Question posted Thursday May 28, 2009

Jane B's answer

For this search I used Consumer Health Complete, a database that contains full text articles covering all aspects of health and wellness from mainstream medicine to many perspectives of complementary, holistic and integrated medicine. Many of the articles are peer reviewed, usually considered important in health issues.

There are a number of ways you can search this database; from the search box on the home page, an advanced search or by using the link to various sources; Evidence based reports, Encyclopedias & Reference Books, Facts Sheets & Pamphlets, News, Drug & Herb Information, Alternative Sources, Images and Diagrams, and Videos & Animations.

I used the search box on the front page and entered “parkinson’s disease” AND (alternative treatment) as the database recognises Boolean operators and grouping words in parentheses. The good thing about Consumer Health Complete is that the results come up under tabs: All Results, News, Alternative Sources and Videos & Animations. To narrow the search to find alternative treatments I clicked on the Alternative Sources tab which gave three full text articles:

Parkinson’s disease – treat the fire, not the smoke. By Perlmutter, David. Alive: Canadian Journal of Health and Nutrition, Jul 2004 Issue 261, p56-59, 4p, 1 chart, 1 graph, 2 colour
Parkinson’s disease. Natural & Alternative Treatments, 04/01/2009
Parkinson’s disease. Natural & Alternative Treatments, 06/01/2005

I also tried the same search under the link to Alternative sources and came up with the same results and the Advanced Search also yielded the same results.

This search took about 3 minutes for the initial search because the Internet connection I was on was quite slow.

You can use Consumer Health Complete from home with your Mosman Library card.

Ken D's answer

The first result on a Google search for “Parkinson’s disease” is the Wikipedia page that looks like a good overview (more for me than the customer, although it also has a large number of references, all hyperlinked).

As I have no medical expertise, my strategy is to provide a limited set of authoritative resources.

I quickly noted the third result – Parkinson’s Australia, the peak support body – and continued by filtering the results by adding “site:.gov.au” to search only Australian government sites.

HealthInsite is a national initiative and offers a number of credible looking links, including systematic reviews of the evidence for the effectiveness of treatments for Parkinson’s Disease.

As a search on “alternative treatments” is likely to bring up pages I cannot adequately assess, I again filter with “site:.gov” for “alternative therapies” and “alternative treatments”. Use of complementary therapies and non-prescribed medication in patients with Parkinson’s disease is from a British medical journal and gives an overview of what complementary therapies are being popularly used.

When providing the links, I’d suggest that talking with support groups – like Parkinson’s Australia and Parkinson’s NSW – would be more useful than searching the internet.

Comments have now closed

Your say

I’m going for TSE on this one myself. Some of Jane B’s sources were several years old. I also liked Ken D’s recommendation (and links) for talking to real people such as Parkinson’s NSW rather than relying on purely electronic sources for medical information.

— snail posted 28 May 2009 #

A good librarian never gives advice only information.

— Jane B posted 28 May 2009 #

I liked the Mosman Library answer on this one: serious issue and I reckon “peer reviewed” wins out over “site:.gov.au” on matters like this.

— Mal Booth posted 28 May 2009 #

I’ve been deliberating while eating lunch as to which way to vote. As the week progresses making this voting decision is getting harder and harder. I finally decided to go with Ken’s answer but by a very narrow margin, and partly based on my own assumptions. The resources he has referred to seem to me to be likely to give a wider range of alternative treatments and with the .gov filter still have authority to them. But as I said I took awhile deciding which way to vote and will probably change my mind upon reflection several times over the next hour or so !!!

— Jo posted 28 May 2009 #

I also think Ken D wins this round based on giving a referral to the support groups. Despite Jane B.‘s statement that “good librarian never gives advice”, I’d see this referral as part of the provision of a complete answer.

— Mark posted 28 May 2009 #

Ken won this one – if I had Parkinson’s disease the referral to Parkinson’s N.S.W would be invaluable. Ken answered the question & value added.

— Ann posted 28 May 2009 #

Very tough decision today! I voted for Ken D because of his discovery of Australian resources, and the British Medical Journal article appears satisfactory. I must say, however, that I think it could be good for the patron / patient to see some non-alternative methods and treatments that are often outlined in Consumer Health Complete (including videos and photographs)

— Liber8ed posted 28 May 2009 #

I’m voting for Jane on this one. Ken’s first reference doesn’t appear to includemany (any?) alternative therapies. They seem to mostly be drugs. The second reference doesn’t have any information about the effectiveness of the therapies. Rather it gives the stats on what people with Parkinson’s have tried.

— Martin B posted 28 May 2009 #

hmm, been pondering about this one for a while now. Some of the library’s resources were quite old and out of date, and as we know, medical science is travelling at a fantastic rate. Looked at search engine resources and thought, hmm well, you can’t trust everything thats on the internet. I gave this one a draw, which brings me to the conclusion that if you require the correct answer, try the Library resources plus those on the Internet. well done both of you.

— Denise posted 28 May 2009 #

Jane’s results are streamlined and it’s clear what to read for the information sought. Ken’s could be useful, but it looks like it will take a lot more time for the user to sort through.

— Mary Ellen Hannibal posted 28 May 2009 #

I voted TSE because the sources he provides are much more relevant to someone who’s just been diagnosed and wants to find out more. ML’s sources are scholarly articles, which would be difficult for a lay person to assess/interpret.

— Ari posted 28 May 2009 #

The Set Up

We’re pitting Mosman Library’s online reference collection against what you can find from the search box on the world wide web!

Each day during Library & Information Week we’ll be posting a question that represents the range of queries that we get at Mosman Library.

The questions have been moderated by Ellen Forsyth of the State Library of NSW.

You decide who gives the best answers and wins the challenge.

The Players

Our Reference Librarian Jane B will represent Mosman Library. She’ll use only Mosman Library’s electronic resources to answer the question.

Our Internet & IT Services Librarian Ken D will represent the search engine. He’ll use only freely-available web resources to formulate his answer.

The Rules

Each player has 45 minutes to research the question.

They have another 45 minutes to write up their answer and outline their search strategy.

Each day’s question will go online at 10am AEST. The answers will be published at noon.

You can vote once on each round. Voting will be open for 24 hours for each round.

The winner will be presented the trophy on Monday 1 June.

The Cup

Want to know what we’re playing for?

The 2009 Challenge Cup is a superb GIF hand-crafted by Mosman Council’s graphic designer.

It will be awarded to the team that has won the most rounds at the close of voting on Saturday 30 May.