PASAY CITY, Metro Manila- During the workshop on Research of the 2^nd Healthcare and Social Media Summit, Dr. Venus Oliva Cloma-Rosales of 101 Health Research promoted the use of Philippine Council for Health Research and Development’s (PCHRD’s) Health Research Information and Development Network (HERDIN).

 Dr. Venus Oliva Cloma-Rosales during the 2^nd Healthcare and Social Media Summit

The HERDIN is an online database which enables online publishing, exchange, and dissemination of quality health information.

The database can be accessed by students, researchers, research managers, and clinical specialists who need access to quality health information. HERDIN also provides data of researchers and authors of a specific health field or related institutions that make the uploaded research possible. HERDIN can be accessed at www.herdin.ph.

According to Dr. Jaime Montoya, PCHRD Executive Director, HERDIN showcases several advantages to researchers such as expanding their reach, letting them be part of a pool of researchers and experts, tracking the people who are citing their work, and organizing and managing their institution’s research information for free.

Aside from HERDIN, Dr. Cloma-Rosales also suggested the use of Google Scholar, BioMed Central, PubMed, Index Medicus for the South-East Asian Region (IMSEAR), Western Pacific Region Index Medicus (WPRIM), APAMED Central, and TRIP database in searching for scholarly articles and researches.

The Research track is one of the six workshops conducted during the summit. The 2^nd Philippine Healthcare & Social Media Summit was organized by PCHRD and #HealthXPh to bring together healthcare professionals, academe, healthcare industry, patients, and advocates forge partnerships that can help translate tweets, shares and likes to concrete action transforming the country’s healthcare services. ■