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RESEARCH GUIDES

Public Health

Guide to selected resources in Public Health.

Finding Evidence Based Medicine Information

Evidence Based Literature

 

(1) TRIP (Turning Research Into Practice) Database Plus

Simultaneously searches evidence-based sources of systematic reviews, practice guidelines, and critically-appraised topics and articles. Also searches MEDLINE’s Clinical Queries, medical image databases, e-textbooks, and patient information leaflets.

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(2) Filtered resources appraise the quality of studies and often make recommendations for practice:

  • Systematic Reviews are searchable in the following sources: ​
    • CINAHL - Enter your search query and add Systematic Reviews in a separate box. Or check the box Evidence-Based Practice in Advanced Search screen.  
    • Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE)
    • MEDLINE - Search limiters include Evidence-Based Medicine Reviews (EBM Reviews), various types of Clinical Queries, and Publication Types in Advanced Search screen. You can choose to limit results to clinical trials, systematic reviews, case reports, comparative studies or meta-analysis.
    • PubMed Clinical Queries - Enter your search query. Results will display under the 2nd column Systematic Reviews.
    • PubMed Health - From the dropdown menu, select PubMed Health. Enter your search query. Results will include information for consumers and clinicians on prevention and treatment of diseases and conditions. PubMed Health specializes in reviews of clinical effectiveness research, with easy-to-read summaries for consumers as well as full technical reports.
    • PEDro (Physiotherapy Evidence Database) is a free database of over 29,000 randomized trials, systematic reviews and clinical practice guidelines in physiotherapy.

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  • Critically-Appraised Topics. Authors of critically-appraised topics evaluate and synthesize multiple research studies.
    • ​National Guideline Clearinghouse - A comprehensive database of evidence-based clinical practice guidelines and related documents produced by the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality, in partnership with the American Medical Association and the American Association of Health Plans. Updated weekly. 

Note: Guideline evidence varies from expert opinion to high levels of evidence.

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  • Critically-Appraised Individual Articles. Authors of critically-appraised individual articles evaluate and synopsize individual research studies.
    • The ACP Journal Club. The editors of this journal screen the top 100+ clinical journals and identify studies that are methodologically sound and clinically relevant. An enhanced abstract, with conclusions clearly stated, and a commentary are provided for each selected article. Published by the American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine.
    • Bandolier is an independent journal about evidence-based healthcare published in the UK. It includes “information about evidence of effectiveness (or lack of it), and put[s] the results forward as simple bullet points of those things that worked and those that did not: a bandolier with bullets. Information comes from systematic reviews, meta-analyses, randomized trials, and from high quality observational studies.”
    • BMJ Updates. Quality articles from over 110 clinical journals are selected by research staff, and then rated for clinical relevance and interest by an international group of physicians. Includes a searchable database of the best evidence from the medical literature and an email alerting system. From BMJ Publishing Group and McMaster University's Health Information Research Unit.

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(3) Unfiltered Resources. Evidence is not always available via filtered resources. Searching the primary literature may be required.

  1. Enter your search term(s).
  2. Results will display under Clinical Study Categories, Systematic Reviews, Medical Genetics.
  3. For Clinical Study Categories you can filter by "category" (etiology, diagnosis, therapy, prognosis, clinical prediction guidelines) or "scope" (broad or narrow)
  4. For Medical Genetics you can filter by "topic" (diagnosis, differential diagnosis, clinical description, clinical description, management, genetic counseling, molecular genetics, genetic testing)
  • PsycINFO - International coverage of the professional and academic literature in psychology, medicine, psychiatry, nursing, sociology, education, pharmacology, physiology, linguistics, and other areas. Click Browse Methodology and select the checkbox for Systematic Reviews.
  • CINAHL (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature). To limit your CINAHL search to the best evidence-producing studies: select type of Clinical Queries or select Evidence-Based Care Sheet or Practice Guidelines or Systematic Reviews in “Publication Type”.
  • ClinicalTrials.gov is a registry of federally and privately supported clinical trials conducted in the United States and around the world. It gives you information about a trial's purpose, who may participate, locations, and phone numbers for more details. This information should be used in conjunction with advice from health care professionals.

 

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