Evidence Based Medicine

Evidence Based Medicine
Workshop

http://www.hawaii.edu/sphlib/internet/evidence.htm
Virginia (Ginny) Tanji, MSLS, MEd
tanji@hawaii.edu

Searching for the Evidence |Tutorials on EBM | Summary Format | Home

Definition:“the conscientious, explicit and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of the individual patient. It means integrating individual clinical expertise with the best available external clinical evidence from systematic research.” David Sackett

Searching for the Evidence

Textbooks/Handbooks, etc. for electronic resources check MDConsult link and StatRef link; also consider Scientific American Medicine available via HML
Practice Guidelines
- Definition: "systematically developed statements to assist practitioner and patient decisions about appropriate health care for specific clinical circumstances." Source: National Academy of Sciences. Institute of Medicine.
- National Guideline Clearinghouse
  - free resource for evidence-based clinical practice guidelines.
  - sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality in partnership with the American Medical Association and the American Association of Health Plans.
- Ovid MEDLINE via Hawaii Medical Library; search topic; select limit; look under publication types for "guideline"
- MDConsult via Hawaii Medical Library; search "practice guidelines"
Systematic Reviews
- Definition: "written by reviewers who use explicit and rigorous methods to identify, critically appraise, and synthesize relevant studies from the published medical research." Source: Nesbit, Evidence Based Clinical Practice Tutorial.
- Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
  - prepared by the Cochrane Collaboration; abstracts FREE
  - Full-text reviews
    - search via HML's OVID EBM Reviews Cochrane Database
    - search via Cochrane Library via Hamilton Library
- DARE (Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects) via OVID
  - prepared by National Health Service Centre for Reviews and Dissemination at the University of York, England
  - includes structured abstracts of systematic reviews published in medical journals that have been critically appraised by reviewers at the NHS Centre.
  - search via HML's OVID as a separate database OR search in OVID MEDLINE and limit to " Article Reviews (DARE)"
  - OR FREE via NHS Centre for Reviews and Dissemination
- Bandolier Evidence-based Health Care
  - a monthly Internet journal that synthesizes the information from systematic reviews and meta-analyses
  - free searchable database
- Meta-analysis: A kind of systematic review. "A quantitative method of combining the results of independent studies (usually drawn from the published literature) and synthesizing summaries and conclusions which may be used to evaluate therapeutic effectiveness, plan new studies, etc., with application chiefly in the areas of research and medicine. " Source PubMed MESH Browser
  - Search MEDLINE Use limit option. Under publication types, select meta-analysis, with your subject search.
Critically Appraised Research Articles
- Definition: critiques of published research articles. In OVID databases on the summary screen; these are easily identified by the caption "Article Review"
- Search OVID MEDLINE as follows: Search your subject and limit to "All EBMR Article Reviews"
- ACP Journal Club via OVID
- Evidence Based Medicine and EBM Online
- Other sources of critically appraised research articles
  - InfoPOEMS (Patient Oriented Evidence that Matters) Published by Journal of Family Practice.
General Databases
- TRIP--Turning Research into Practice meta-search engine that searches across 55 sites of high-quality medical information
  - Results are sorted by Evidence Based Links (direct and indirect); peer-reviewed journal articles; guidelines.
  - Searches words in the titles and text only; must search on synonyms
  - Free
- SumSearch from University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
  - Metasearch engine which searches the Emergency Medicine, Medline, National Guideline Clearinghouse and Cochrane Database and DARE.
  - Returns results in one search
MEDLINE database
- Use OVID's Limit "Evidence Based Medicine Reviews"t or PubMed's Clincal Queries
- Evidence-Based Filters for OVID Medline from University of Rochester Medical Center

Searching Ovid MEDLINE Using Evidence Based Medicine Strategies from Indiana University
Critical Appraisal of Bio-medical Literature by Alan O'Rourke, The Wisdom Centre, UK

Evidence Based Medicine Resources

Centre for Evidence-based Medicine Oxford, UK
Netting the Evidence: A ScHARR introduction to evidence-based practice on the Internet (University of Sheffield School of Health and Related Research, UK)
- Core Library click on "library" (includes links to the JAMA series Users' Guide to the Medical Literature)

Tutorials/Guides on Evidence Based Medicine

Evidence Based Medicine: Finding the Best Clinical Literature by Jo Dorsch, UIC Library Health Sciences-Peoria
Evidence Based Clinical Practice Tutorial by Kathryn Nesbit, Miner Library, University of Rochester Medical Center
Introduction to Evidence Based Medicine by Connie Schardt, Duke University Medical Center Library and Jill Mayer, Health Sciences Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Evidence Based Medicine Interactive Tutorials from University of Massachusetts Medical School
An Introduction to Information Mastery from Michigan State University
Techniques for Locating Evidence-Based Practice Resources from University of Washington, Health Sciences Library. Includes a critique of Evidence Based Medicine.
User's Guide to Evidence Based Practice from Centre for Health Evidence, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

PDAs and Evidence Based Medicine

InfoPOEMS database that can be searched concurrently to place new research information, basic drug information, evidence-based clinical guidelines, and clinical decision-making tools at your fingertips, by subscription only.
EBM Calculator
From Mount Sinai Hospital, University of Toronto, the EBM Calculator is designed to calculate relevant statistics for Diagnostic studies, Prospective Studies, Case Control Studies, and Randomized Control Trials (RCT). This is a palm version of the Stats Calculator. Free

Home | Searching for the Evidence Summary Format

JABSOM Library Resource Center, John A. Burns School of Medicine,, University of Hawaii at Manoa
(808) 956-8666
Modified 2/11/04
Please send your comments, questions to:
Virginia Tanji, Librarian tanji@hawaii.edu