QMed has taught literature searching and reference management since 2008 April – via lectures and workshops. We also teach and support literature searching for authoring systematic reviews and meta-analyses

We got our first course online in May 2018, and in September 2019 we added two more courses. During the lockdown in 2020, we restructured the courses (included the “new PubMed”) and got them up and ready in June 2020.

Why are our courses important?

1. Medical practice evolves with research
2. Literature search is the foundation of research
3. If the foundation is weak, the research is weak
4. Weak results do not contribute to evidence
5. Good research -a must for evidence based practice

The National Medical Council’s document – “Competency based undergraduate curriculum for the Indian Medical Graduate” specifies in 3.4.4:
“Demonstrate ability to search (including through electronic means), and critically evaluate the medical literature and apply the information in the care of the patient”
Source: https://www.nmc.org.in/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/UG-Curriculum-Vol-I.pdf

Competency based Undergraduate (UG) curriculum for the Indian Medical Graduate (Foundation course for MBBS) specifies on page 64:
The students should be introduced to the basic use of word and power point, familiar with search engines, in performing a literature search and accessing online resources.
Source: https://www.nmc.org.in/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/FOUNDATION-COURSE-MBBS-17.07.2019.pdf

Anyone can register on www.qmedcourses.in and access the first two courses – “Information Resources and Literature Searching” and “Introduction to Referencing”. The courses can be done on a computer, laptop or on mobile phones – both via an app or browser. For the rest of the courses and the resources, institutions can subscribe for access for their students and employees. Individuals can make a donation to support our efforts and gain access. Please click the relevant links on the side bar. UG students of all health sciences streams – do note – we have special schemes for you.

Pharmaceutical and healthcare companies in India, – we welcome your support towards our initiatives. Please write to us at info@qmed.ngo . We would be happy to provide access to a select number of employees in your organization for the financial support you provide

Workshops:
For every institution that subscribe to our courses, we include one full day workshop. The institution can request for additional one day workshops during the year at a nominal cost of Rs 10,000/- (plus GST).
For any workshop we conduct for the institution – we request the travel and stay costs to be covered. Smaller institutions could plan for short sessions over Zoom.

Library of Resources:
In  – www.qmedcourses.in – we have a library of resources – “Resources for you” – which has links to sites and tutorials useful for searching and writing and for research in general. We also have links to useful articles (in PubMed) on topics related to research – eg – Journal clubs, literature search, plagiarism etc. To learn more and view a sample, please visit this page

Consulting sessions:
We offer consulting / mentoring sessions specially for:

• Detailed search strategies for systematic / scoping reviews,
• Any detailed help regarding searching / referencing

These are offered only to those enrolled for all courses & offerings, not only for the free courses.

Webinars:
We conduct bi-weekly short webinar sessions for students and professionals from any health sciences field. There will be eight 15 minute sessions every month and these will be repeated every month. More details.

Do you still wonder if you need our course/s? Please click this link to test your information literacy

Between August 2020 and 08th Apr 2024, the information literacy test was taken by 207 people. The scores below indicate that less than 60% of people scored between 0 and 2 out of a possible five –  which is a score less than 50%. Every individual needs to be able to score between 90 and 100 for basic skills.

QMed’s small and highly dedicated team – is the creator of QMedCourses. This team works consistently to add new material and update all contents. Supporting this effort contributes to better medical research & better health. To donate – please visit  www.qmed.ngo/donate