A good place to begin learning about a search for alternatives is the Literature Searching and Database page of the Animal Welfare Information Center.
You can also consult the Selected Databases page of this guide. Remember to use two different databases for your searches. You can use one resource that searches the MedLine database but your second resource must search a different body of information.
The narrative describing the search for alternatives should include the following:
Email herref@pennstatehealth.psu.edu with questions about capturing search strings.
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An example of completed search box in CATS-IACUC (alternatives). Your search terms may be different.
1. *Procedure causing pain or distress:
Jugular Catheter
2. *Date of Search:
4/28/2017
3. Database(s) Searched:
PubMed/MEDLINE, Web of Science
4. Keywords used:
jugular catheter rats pain distress
5. Summarize your search for an alternative procedure:
PubMed: ("jugular catheter"[All Fields] AND ("rats"[MeSH Terms] OR "rats"[All Fields])) AND (("pain"[MeSH Terms] OR "pain"[All Fields]) OR ("stress"[All Fields]) OR distress[All Fields]). 23 results. Articles discussed xyz methods but these particular procedures do not work for our research because...
Web of Science: TOPIC: ("jugular catheter" rat (pain OR stress OR distress)). 28 results. Articles discussed xyz methods and we will adjust our procedures to xyz method based on the review of the articles.
6. Time period covered by search:
Start: 1/1/1960
End: 4/28/2017
A search for alternatives to death as an endpoint can be challenging to build. Here is a sample of such a search in PubMed Medline:
(("leukaemia"[All Fields] OR "leukemia"[MeSH Terms] OR "leukemia"[All Fields])) AND ((((((humane) AND ((endpoint) OR endpoints))) OR ((death) AND ((endpoint) OR endpoints)))) AND (("animal experimentation"[MeSH Terms] OR ("animal"[All Fields] AND "experimentation"[All Fields]) OR "animal experimentation"[All Fields] OR ("animal"[All Fields] AND "research"[All Fields]) OR "animal research"[All Fields])))
You can use this same search for your protocol by replacing leukemia with the topic of your research. For further assistance, contact Lori Cisney at the Harrell Health Sciences Library.
The term "alternatives" is not a catch-all as many subject specialties do not use the term, or use it in ways not relevant to searching for "alternatives" to painful/distressful procedures. Refer to the Altweb Resources Search Guide for more information:
Here are some suggested terms to use when searching for alternatives:
General
animal testing alternative • assay • distress • euthanasia • learn • learning • method • model • pain • replace • replacement • surrogate • system • teach • teaching • technique
Replacement
aided/assisted • artificial • cadaver • computers • image • imaging • instruction • interactive • mathematical model(ing) • model(ing) • prediction • simulation • software • teaching • theoretical model(ing) • virtual
Reduction
statistics • statistical analysis • experimental design • model • reduce • reduction
Refinement
distress • (non-)invasive • pain • postoperative • postsurgery • stress• anaesthesia • anesthesia • anesthetic • anaesthetic • analgesia • analgesic • anxiolytic • sedative• animal cage • animal caging • animal euthanasia • animal housing • animal husbandry • animal welfare
The USDA provides a worksheet of possible search terms.