Level of evidence | Clinical question | Resource* | Resource website | Resource description |
---|---|---|---|---|
Studies | I want to find the latest treatment for my patient's illness and want to use an evidence-based approach (ask, acquire, appraise and apply). Where should I look for this information? | PubMed | http://www.pubmed.gov | Database of life sciences and biomedical literature covering medicine, nursing, pharmacy, dentistry, veterinary medicine and healthcare from 1950 to present. Comprises more than 21 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals and online books |
Clinical Queries | http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/corehtml/query/static/clinical.shtml | Searches are limited to specific clinical research areas | ||
EMBASE | http://www.embase.com | Database covering international biomedical literature from 1947 to present and includes drug-related and clinical literature, comprehensive indexing of adverse drug reactions, systematic reviews and the development and use of medical devices | ||
CINAHL | http://www.ebscohost.com/academic/cinahl-plus-with-full-text | Database including topics of nursing, biomedicine, health sciences librarianship, alternative/complementary medicine and consumer health | ||
PsycINFO | http://www.apa.org/pubs/databases/psycinfo/index.aspx | Abstracting and indexing database with more than three million records devoted to peer-reviewed literature in the behavioural sciences and mental health | ||
Synopses of studies | I want to find the latest treatment for my patient's illness but: (1) do not have the time to read the study thoroughly or (2) do not feel that I have the expertise to interpret the information in the article. Where should I look for this information? | Evidence-based medicine | http://ebm.bmj.com | Systematically searches international medical journals applying strict criteria for the validity of research. Experts critically appraise the validity of the most clinically relevant articles and summarise them including commentary on their clinical applicability |
ACPJournalWise | http://journalwise.acponline.org | Screens over 120 journals for recently published articles in the medical disciplines of the reader's choice | ||
McMaster PLUS Database | http://plus.mcmaster.ca/McMasterPLUSDB/Default.aspx?Page=1 | Critically appraises articles and then rates their relevance and newsworthiness through the McMaster Online Rating of Evidence (MORE) system | ||
Journal Watch | http://www.jwatch.org | Distills research and practice guidelines into focused clinical summaries in topics of medical news, drug information and public health alerts | ||
Syntheses | I know there is a lot of literature about my clinical question but is there a resource I can use that integrates all of this information and provides recommendations given the data? | PubMed | http://www.pubmed.gov | See Studies section above for description |
The Cochrane Library | http://www.thecochranelibrary.com | Database of over 5000 systematic reviews of primary research in human healthcare and health policy | ||
The Campbell Library | http://www.campbellcollaboration.org/library.php | Prepares, maintains and disseminates systematic reviews in education, crime and justice and social welfare | ||
DynaMed | http://dynamed.ebscohost.com | Reviews articles on a daily basis and integrates new evidence with existing evidence for an overall conclusion. Contains clinically organised summaries for more than 3200 topics | ||
DARE | http://www.crd.york.ac.uk/CRDWeb | Databases of systematic reviews, economic evaluations, health technology assessments, summaries of Cochrane and Campbell reviews | ||
AHRQ | http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic | Supports efforts in decision-making in many venues including US Preventive Services Task Force (that makes recommendations about clinical preventive services) and evidence-based practice centres (that develop evidence reports and technology assessments on topics relevant to clinical and other healthcare organisation and delivery issues) | ||
Synopses of syntheses | I know there is a lot of literature about my question but I do not want to read through an entire systematic review to determine the evidence. Where should I look for this information? | ACPJournalWise | http://journalwise.acponline.org | See Studies section above for description |
Evidence-Based Medicine | http://ebm.bmj.com | See Synopses of studies section above for description | ||
DARE | http://www.crd.york.ac.uk/CRDWeb | See Syntheses section above for description | ||
Journal Watch | http://www.jwatch.org | See Synopses of studies section above for description | ||
Evidence-Based Mental Health | http://ebmh.bmj.com | Assesses the clinical relevance of mental health studies from international medical journals and presents key details of selected studies using an abstract with an expert commentary on clinical application | ||
Evidence-Based Nursing | http://ebn.bmj.com | Assesses the clinical relevance and rigour of select nursing studies and provides key findings and implications for clinical practice | ||
Bandolier | http://www.medicine.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/index.html | Searches the literature presents results as simple bullet points of those things that worked and those that did not. Information comes from systematic reviews, meta-analyses, randomised trials and from high quality observational studies | ||
AHRQ | http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic | See Syntheses section above for description | ||
Summaries | I just want to apply the evidence for my patients when the topic arises. Where can I go to find the clinical bottom line? | National Guidelines Clearninghouse | http://www.guidelines.gov | Contains detailed information on clinical practice guidelines |
Clinical Evidence | http://www.clinicalevidence.com | Database of systematic overviews assessing the benefits and harms of treatments | ||
PIER | pier.acponline.org | A decision-support tool designed for point-of-care use by internists. Provides recommendations for treatment and the evidence used to formulate the recommendations for internal medicine topics | ||
AHRQ | http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic | See Synopses of studies above for description | ||
UpToDate | http://www.uptodate.com | Clinical knowledge database that synthesises the most recent medical information into evidence-based medicine recommendations | ||
GIDEON | http://www.gideononline.com | Online infectious diseases application providing up to date information on epidemiology, treatment and microbiology infectious diseases | ||
Skinsight | http://www.skinsight.com/search.htm | Reviews dermatologic conditions and provides clinical information on what to look for in a patient, best tests and therapies | ||
Systems | How can I keep up with the guidelines for each of my individual patients? | Not currently available for widespread use | – | – |
*Some of the resources listed require subscriptions, and thus may not be accessible to all readers.