Bibliography of Bioethics and Index Medicus: comparison of coverage, publication delay, and ease of recall for journal articles on bioethics

Citations selected from the bibliographies of recent texts, a specialized subject bibliography, and review articles were checked in both Cumulated Index Medicus (IM) and the Bibliography of Bioethics (BB) to compare coverage, publication delay, probable causes of indexing and retrieval failure, and the ease with which relevant citations were retrieved. The study also attempted to determine whether BB included appropriate articles from the MEDLINE database in a timely and systematic manner. While 98% of the IM citations appeared within a year of publication, 79% of the BB citations appeared two to three years after their publication dates. The average citation appeared twice as frequently in IM as in BB.     

Home birth: the wave of the future?

A childbirth educator expresses frustration with a medical system that does not work for women or for many maternity care providers. She suggests out-of-hospital birth as an alternative. This column explores the safety of home birth, women's experiences of home birth, and the issues related to home birth once again being the standard. Childbirth educators are encouraged to present home birth as a viable choice.