Health Information Management (HIM) Research Guide

This Research Guide is intended to support Health Information Management students in finding and accessing LCC Library resources related to their course of study. Use the blue tabs to navigate between pages.

If you need help with research or resources for HIM assignments, please contact the library liaison, Claire Dannenbaum at dannenbaumc@lanecc.edu

Medical research requires that you find evidence-based findings to support your own analysis. Before you begin searching for sources, try to clearly define your research question or issue.

Not all research requires the PICO rubric, but it can helpful if your topic is related to medicine or healthcare. Think about specific patient populations, conditions, possible interventions and outcomes as you develop your own research question.

P = population

I = intervention

C = comparison (often researchers compare 2 interventions when conducting studies, so it can help to think of 2 interventions to compare.)

O  = outcome

Example:  How does patients' use of a medical provider portals impact the coordination of care?

Next, brainstorm keywords to search for sources. Pick out the keywords from your question, and consider synonyms, related ideas, etc.

Example: How does patients' use of provider portals impact the coordination of care?

Possible search terms from the example above:

patients
medical office portals
usability
benefits OR outcomes
"coordination of care"

This is a critical step in research. Brainstorm your terms. Write them down. Review subject terms from items in the catalog. Add to the list as you go. Perform several searches. Remember that research is an iterative process. You may need to do several searches to collect enough evidence for your project.