Finding the Best Evidence in the Least Time June 3, 2015 Caitlin Bakker Research Services Librarian cjbakker@umn.edu | 612-301-1353

Filtered Information Unfiltered Information

Searching for Evidence Unfiltered Information MEDLINE PubMed OVID Medline CINAHL Web of Science Scopus Embase CAB Abstracts Google Scholar Use filters to find the “best” evidence Filtered Information General: Cochrane Library, TRIP Subject Specific: Joanna Briggs (Nursing), PEDro (Physiotherapy), DynaMed (Medicine), ACP PIER (Medicine), ADA’s Evidence Database (Dentistry) Clinical Practice Guidelines: US Preventive Services Task Force, National Guideline Clearinghouse

Asking Focused (Answerable) Questions Use PICO to help formulate your question P = Patient/population/problem I = Intervention (programmatic/therapy/diagnosis) C = Comparison (sometimes not applicable) O = Outcome In the patient/population with this problem, does the invention more than the comparison (if any) result in the outcome?

Example Is cranberry juice effective in preventing urinary tract infections in women with recurrent UTIs? P I C O = women with recurrent UTIs = cranberry juice = none = prevention of UTIs Remember: Not all of your PICO terms have to become components of your search

Boolean Operators AND = Items that cover both concepts OR = Items about either one or the other of the concepts, or about both NOT = Items about only one of the concepts, not including anything about the other concept The building blocks of a successful search strategy A way to help you connect your different concepts together Each circle represents one different core concept (e.g., mental health and homelessness) The shaded area represents what would actually be searched AND = connecting major concepts OR = connecting like terms NOT = use sparingly at first

Putting the Search Together truncation symbol = search all variations of endings (e.g., read* finds reads, reader, reading…) search as a phrase (cranberr* OR "Vaccinium macrocarpon") AND (recurr* (UTIs OR "urinary tract infection*")) nesting = creates an order of operations within your search

“Review” meaning systematic review or literature review

The “Search Details” box shows you how PubMed has interpreted your search terms

Find MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) by moving from PubMed to MeSH in the drop-down menu next to the search box

Add the term to your search by clicking here Add the term to your search by clicking here. Search for each concept individually then select “Search PubMed.” Subheadings – a particular aspect of the topic, useful in creating a more focused search. Note: if you do not select a subheading, all will be searched

MeSH hierarchy is a tree structure, which includes broader and narrower terms. All the narrower terms (e.g., Pyuria, Bacteriuria) are searched when searching for the broader term, unless you select the circled option above.

This subheading was not in use prior to 2002 This subheading was not in use prior to 2002. Therefore, using this subject heading would not be sufficient to capture all evidence prior to 2002.

See search history by going to “Advanced See search history by going to “Advanced.” You can use the search builder and Boolean logic to combine your keyword and subject headings searches into a single set of results.

You can search using the same techniques that you would for PubMed. Search limited to publication types associated with the evidence hierarchy (e.g., case studies, cohort studies, RCTs, observational studies)

Possible Questions In hypertensive women with normal cholesterol, do statins reduce the risk of stroke? Does treadmill training reduce the risk of falls in people with Parkinson’s disease? In people with nocturnal bruxism, are occlusal splints effective in reducing the severity of episodes? Are steroid injections more effective than surgery in reducing symptoms in adults with carpal tunnel syndrome?