1. RAPID Reviews: Finding the Evidence
Elizabeth Yates, Faculty of Applied Health Sciences Librarian
October 2017

2. Why should you care?
Final paper: 50% of your grade “The final paper will be based on a rapid review style review of the literature following the PRISMA guidelines.”

3. Today’s outcomes Recap of Library learning modules Introduction to:
Evidence-based health information
Rapid Review
How to search the literature for a rapid review
Intro to main features of relevant databases:
OVID MEDLINE
Web of Science
PsycINFO
Tips for managing citations

4. Recap: Library Module 1 Research topic development
Research problem
Research question
Research topic development
Why is it important to have a well-defined research question?
Where are you at?

5. RECAP: Library MODULE 2 Scholarly versus popular sources Peer review
Databases
Improving your search terms,
Using SuperSearch
Finding citations
Intro to advanced searching strategies & OVID MEDLINE

6. Evidence-informed Health Information
"...Evidence-based health care is the conscientious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients or the delivery of health services.
Current best evidence is up-to-date information from relevant, valid research about the effects of different forms of health care, the potential for harm from exposure to particular agents, the accuracy of diagnostic tests, and the predictive power of prognostic factors..." 
Cochrane Collaboration via HLWIKI Canada -

7. Levels of Evidence What do we mean by levels of evidence?
As rigour of scientific method increases, we can be more confident in validity and generalizability of results
Critical for clinical applications
International Food Information Council Foundation. (2013). Evaluating Evidence.

8. Research Synthesis Aka knowledge synthesis Evidence that is:
Synthesized from a large set of data/studies
Summarized
Critically appraised

9. Evidence Review Types
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10. Systematic reviews:
Undertake a systematic, structured review of all empirical evidence on a specific research question
Use explicit, pre-defined criteria to include and exclude studies
Incorporate search strategies which are systematic, free of bias and reproducible
are NOT “review articles”
A systematic review is:
-performed by a team of experts who review all the research evidence on a specific intervention in a specific population
-the experts follow a rigourous scientific protocol for the review
-the research evidence is summarized and analyzed for the strength of its methodology and conclusions
A systematic review is defined as “a review of the evidence on a clearly
formulated question that uses systematic and explicit methods to identify, select and critically
appraise relevant primary research, and to extract and analyse data from the studies that are
included in the review.” – source: Undertaking Systematic Reviews of Research on Effectiveness. CRD’s Guidance for those
Carrying Out or Commissioning Reviews. CRD Report Number 4 (2nd Edition). NHS Centre for Reviews and Dissemination, University of York. March 2001.
A review article is:
-a summary of a published literature on a topic: it is not comprehensive nor does it follow specific protocols

11. Rapid Reviews Evidence review/syntheses that are: Rigorous
Use explicit criteria
Facilitate decision-making
BUT are also:
Streamlined
Time-sensitive
Grant, M. J., & Booth, A. (2009). A typology of reviews: an analysis of 14 review types and associated methodologies. Health Information & Libraries Journal, 26(2),

12. Why are they more rapid? May use: Very narrow research question
Less sophisticated search strategies
Search fewer sources
Simple, descriptive quality appraisal

13. Khangura, S. , Konnyu, K. , Cushman, R. , Grimshaw, J. , & Moher, D
Khangura, S., Konnyu, K., Cushman, R., Grimshaw, J., & Moher, D. (2012). Evidence summaries: the evolution of a rapid review approach. Systematic reviews, 1(1), 10.

14. Good model of a rapid review:
Well-organized
Clearly stated research question, search strategy
Clear reporting of studies
Critical appraisal and synthesis of studies

17. Building a search strategy
1. Developing a research question
2. Gathering background information
3. Generating keywords & synonyms
4. Combining keywords/related terms with AND, OR
5. Gathering foreground information
Revise and repeat as needed!

18. Research question: PICO format
Population, patient or problem
Intervention
Comparator
Outcome

19. Sample research question
Is cognitive behaviour therapy effective in reducing social anxiety in adolescents?
>> clearly focused on a specific population, health condition and clinical treatment
P – adolescents
I – CBT
C – none
O – reduced anxiety

20. Sample search strategy (simple)
Search concept
Search terms: keywords, related terms and subject headings
 Social Anxiety 
“social anxiety” OR “social phobia” OR “social anxiety disorder”
AND
 Cognitive behavioural therapy 
“Cognitive behavioural therapy” OR CBT OR “behavioural therapy” OR “cognitive therapy”
Adolescents 
Adolescents OR teen* OR “young adult” OR youth

21. Where to search Subject databases relevant to your topic:
MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Web of Science, etc.
Try your topic in SuperSearch and see where literature is coming from > limit by database
Grey literature sources:
e.g. Canadian Health Research Collection, Canadian Public Policy Collection; websites for organizations working in your topic area e.g. CAMH

22. Why search >1 database?
MEDLINE: 1855 unique
WoS: 5875 unique
Overlap: 3026
Gavel, Y., & Iselid, L. (2008). Web of Science and Scopus: a journal title overlap study. Online Information Review, 32(1), doi: /

23. How to search Concept by concept:
So if you make an error in your search strategy, you can fix one concept instead of the whole string
Use a mix of subject heading and keyword searching
Document and/or save your searches

24. Where to Search: Key Health databases
MEDLINE – premier index to biomedical literature; produced by U.S. National Library of Medicine
Use subject heading searching and keyword searching
lots of search filters
Web of Science – broad index to literature in the sciences, biomedicine, social sciences, humanities
Keyword searching
Few search filters
Forward and backward citation searching
PsycINFO – behavioural & social sciences; produced by the APA
Methodology, population & age group filters
Term Finder: Thesaurus of Psychological Index terms (subject headings)

25. Where to search: How to choose
Choose databases according to:
Your topic – e.g.
Health > MEDLINE
Mental health > PsycINFO
Your need for specific search filters
E.g. need to find RCTs? > OVID MEDLINE

26. Key health databases listed in Health Sciences Research Guide > Find articles tab

27. Succeed with OVID MEDLINE
Search each concept separately
Select “map to subject heading”
Check scope note, tree hierarchy for relevance of MeSH term
Combine searches with AND, OR in Search History
By selecting Map to subject heading, you’re telling MEDLINE to map your keyword/natural language search to the specialized MeSH vocabulary
Check if the MeSH options you get are relevant by looking at the scope note (click the blue “I” for a definition) and the tree – which shows your term in a hierarchy of broader or narrower terms

28. Create OVID account to save your searches

29. Web of Science
Multi-disciplinary research index (not a full-text database)
Covers sciences, social sciences, arts & humanities
Includes journal articles, books, data and conference proceedings
Long tail – some content dates back 100+ years
PRO
CON
BREADTH & DEPTH
FEWER SEARCH FILTERS

30. Searching Web of Science
Health Sciences Research Guide > Find articles
Web of Science Complete (includes MEDLINE)
Only allows keyword searching
Search concept by concept and combine in Search History
Ensure relevance sort

31. Forward and backward citation tracing in Web of Science

32. Psyc Info Search each concept separately
Use Term Finder to find Index Terms
Use filters
Age, population group, methodology
Create an account to save your searches
Citation tracking – backwards and forwards

34. Reporting your search strategy

35. Citation management tools
Use to store and organize your search results
Create in-text citations and reference lists automagically
Remove duplicates
Save time!

36. Getting help Visit our AskUs desk or call 905-688-5550 x4583
Chat with us via Ask-a-Librarian
Watch a short video on our Help page --
Contact me:
Drop-in sessions in November
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