The MeSH vocabulary terms that are assigned to the majority of records in the PubMed database can be useful in retrieving relevant references.

Case in point: below is a reference that is perfect for my search on “how patients decide which hospital to go to for treatment.”

The factors that influence patients’ choice of hospital and treatment. Dealey C. Br J Nurs. 2005 May 26-Jun 8;14(10):576-9.

First, find the record in PubMed for this reference.  Click on the “Publication Types, MeSH Terms” link found below the PMID number, to access the MeSH terms to see the list.

MeSH Terms

• Acute Disease/psychology
• Choice Behavior*
• Chronic Disease/psychology
• Continuity of Patient Care/organization & administration
• Family/psychology
• Friends/psychology
• Great Britain
• Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
• Health Services Accessibility/organization & administration
• Hospitals, Public/organization & administration
• Humans
• Nurse’s Role
• Organizational Culture
• Organizational Innovation
• Patient Education as Topic
• Patient Participation/psychology*
• Patient-Centered Care/organization & administration*
• Physicians, Family/psychology
• Professional-Patient Relations
• State Medicine/organization & administration*

The bolded MeSH term, Choice Behavior, is a key term for finding references on deciding on a hospital.  Use this term combined with hospital/health facilities terms to retrieve additional references.