Searching for Evidence 101 Author: Lee-Anne Ufholz, BSc, MLIS Date: May 14 th, 2012

2 Conflict of interest disclosure I do not hold any research grants funded by industry or serve on any advisory committees of a pharmaceutical company. I have no other relevant financial relationships with members of the pharmaceutical industry or medical supply companies.

3 Searching for Evidence 101 Learning Objectives 1.Understand the fundamentals of efficient searching 2.Be aware of major search engines 3.Maximize the use of key features in PubMed 4.Create advanced searches and manage auto-alerts 5.Apply the principles and skills to your own research

4 Fundamentals of Searching Uses crawlers/spiders that function on an algorithm based on: frequency and location of keywords, how long the page has existed, the number of other pages linked back to that page. Google is a great tool for browsing the web for answers to straightforward, factual questions.

5 Fundamentals of Searching Thai restaurant in my neighbourhood

6 Fundamentals of Searching How do I get software to complete a task?

7 Fundamentals of Searching Wikipedia is written collaboratively by largely anonymous Internet volunteers who write without pay. Anyone with Internet access can write and make changes to Wikipedia articles… Users can contribute anonymously, under a pseudonym, or with their real identity, if they choose.written collaborativelyvolunteerscontribute anonymously

8 Fundamentals of Searching What’s missing? Peer review of items posted to the web. The ability to perform a systematic, reproducible strategy. Browsing is not sufficient for finding evidence effectively.

9 Fundamentals of Searching The first step in creating an effective search strategy is to clarify your question. Be certain that you understand what it is you need to find. The current rate of research creation and dissemination, enabled largely by the invention of the web, makes information sharing in proportions that were never before possible. The next step is to break your question into concepts. PICO (Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome) is a tool used often for clinical questions.

10 Fundamentals of Searching P I C O Population Intervention Comparison Outcome Question Formulation Using PICO

11 Fundamentals of Searching When breaking your topic into concepts: As a general rule you will have 2-3 concepts in a strategy and possibly some limits. It is important to consider all the possible ways a concept can be described. i.e. cancer, neoplasm, oncology, carcinoma, tumour, tumor, etc… perspective: disease vs. health or disease vs. pathogen Sophisticated databases have subject headings to describe each concept. A combination of keywords and subject headings for each concept is the most comprehensive strategy.

12 Fundamentals of Searching Screen capture of search strategy worksheet goes here. Search Terms Concept 1 -AND- Concept 2 –AND- Concept 3 RESIDENTSSURGERYDUTY HOURS OR resident(s)surgeryduty hours OR residency surgical procedures shift worker(s) OR postgraduate education operating room personnel staffing and scheduling OR graduate medical education surgical site work schedule work schedule tolerance OR internship workload

13 Fundamentals of Searching TRUNCATION resident residentsresiden* residency

14 Fundamentals of Searching Questions or Comments

15 Be aware of major search engines Finding evidence requires consulting a variety of resources. A ‘one-stop shop’ approach is not comprehensive Different tools provide varied levels of evidence.

Be aware of major search engines Adapted with permission from EBM Pyramid and EBM Page Generator, copyright 2006 Trustees of Dartmouth College and Yale University. All Rights Reserved. Produced by Jan Glover, David Izzo, Karen Odato and Lei Wang.

Be aware of major search engines TypeResource/ Tool ContentUse Filtered Cochrane Library DARE (Database of Review of Effects) systematic reviews from the Cochrane Collaboration, and 9000 critical appraisals of systematic reviews from DARE. For locating high quality, well-documented systematic reviews and appraisals of systematic reviews UnfilteredPubMed Clinical Queries Medline filters for retrieving methodologically sound studies. Filters created for therapy, diagnosis, prognosis, and etiology. For locating systematic reviews in the MEDLINE database. Synthesized UpToDate, DynamedConcise, peer-reviewed and fully references topical summaries, focusing on diagnosis and treatment. For high quality peer- reviewed answers to specific clinical questions. Mega-search engine or federated search TRIP (Turning Research into Practice) Meta-search engine for 70 sources of high-quality internet information, including e-journals and e- textbooks. For finding pre-appraised evidence, reviews, and guidelines all in one place.

Be aware of major search engines

When choosing your tool … Think about your need What kind of question are you asking? Consider strengths and limits of the tool Content frequently updated? Content appropriate for your question? Quick to access? Ability to do a systematic, reproducible search?

Be aware of major search engines Questions or Comments

Key features in PubMed Single Citation Matcher Customizing your display settings Related citations Clipboard Limits or filters Clinical Queries MyNCBI account

Key features in PubMed

Questions or Comments

Advanced Searching and Auto-Alerts Free….a service provided by the National Library of Medicine, funded by the National Institutes of Health. Over 21 million citations covering Medline and some additional titles. A new journal must publish for at least 2 years before PubMed will consider indexing it in the database.

Advanced Searching and Auto-Alerts Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) MeSH is the NLM controlled vocabulary thesaurus used for indexing articles for PubMed.

Advanced Searching and Auto-Alerts

Questions or Comments

Apply the principles and skills to your own research The first step in creating an effective search strategy is to clarify your question. Be certain that you understand what it is you need to find. The next step is to break your question into concepts. Usually 2-3 concepts with limits or filters. consider all the possible ways a concept can be described. A combination of keywords and subject headings generates the most comprehensive strategy.

45 Fundamentals of Searching Screen capture of search strategy worksheet goes here. Search Terms Concept 1 -AND- Concept 2 –AND- Concept 3 RESIDENTSSURGERYDUTY HOURS OR resident(s)surgeryduty hours OR residency surgical procedures shift worker(s) OR postgraduate education operating room personnel staffing and scheduling OR graduate medical education surgical site work schedule work schedule tolerance OR internship workload

Be aware of major search engines TypeResource/ Tool ContentUse Filtered Cochrane Library DARE (Database of Review of Effects) systematic reviews from the Cochrane Collaboration, and 9000 critical appraisals of systematic reviews from DARE. For locating high quality, well-documented systematic reviews and appraisals of systematic reviews UnfilteredPubMed Clinical Queries Medline filters for retrieving methodologically sound studies. Filters created for therapy, diagnosis, prognosis, and etiology. For locating systematic reviews in the MEDLINE database. Synthesized UpToDate, DynamedConcise, peer-reviewed and fully references topical summaries, focusing on diagnosis and treatment. For high quality peer- reviewed answers to specific clinical questions. Mega-search engine or federated search TRIP (Turning Research into Practice) Meta-search engine for 70 sources of high-quality internet information, including e-journals and e- textbooks. For finding pre-appraised evidence, reviews, and guidelines all in one place.

Apply the principles and skills to your own research Just one reference is enough to get started.

Apply the principles and skills to your own research Single Citation Matcher Customizing your display settings Related citations Clipboard Limits or filters Clinical Queries MyNCBI account

Apply the principles and skills to your own research Advanced Search Auto-Alerts

Apply the principles and skills to your own research Watch a tutorial or find a librarian.

Apply the principles and skills to your own research Questions or Comments