PPHC 04: Evidence Evaluation – Searching Literature

Question 1

What are drug monographs/textbooks?

Answer 1

outline basic information about drugs (indications, administration, adverse effects, etc.)

• ie. CPS, LexiComp (includes AHFS, Martindale), Stockley’s, NatMed Pro (formerly Natural Medicines for supplements)

Question 2

What are evidence summaries?

Answer 2

summarize available evidence in a concise way

• great for background and exploring what other literature exists on a general topic
• ie. UpToDate, DynaMed, BMJ Best Practice

Question 3

What are systematic reviews?

Answer 3

search for all relevant studies and appraise them to answer a research question

• ie. Cochrane, many journals

Question 4

What are meta-analyses?

Answer 4

pool data from individual studies and perform statistical analysis on the combined results

• ie. Cochrane, many journals

Question 5

What are guidelines?

Answer 5

make recommendations on how to provide optimal care

• strength of evidence found in guidelines varies – some include systematic review search but many do not, many are published as journal articles but some are only found on organizations’ websites
• ie. Trip Database

Question 6

What is primary literature?

Answer 6

primary journal to find a complete, specific, up to date answer

• ie. Medline

Question 7

What is PICO?

Answer 7

helps identify main concepts to search in a database – among P, does I compared with C affect O

• P: patient/population
• I: intervention/exposure
• C: comparator
• O: outcome

Question 8

What parts of PICO would you use when searching Medline?

Answer 8

start with most important parts – P and I, or I and O

• usually won’t use all components of PICO

Question 9

What is Medline?

Answer 9

most commonly used database to search for medical journal literature

• can search it via PubMed or Ovid

Question 10

What are the best practices for searching Medline?

Answer 10

• use combination (using OR) of keywords and MeSH terms for each PICO concept
• combine PICO concepts (using AND)
• limits let you focus on special populations or study types

Question 11

PubMed vs. Ovid Medline

Answer 11

Ovid Medline:

• easier to find useful MeSH terms (suggests terms)
• simpler to search for articles on classes of drugs
• easier to do complex searches with multiple concepts
• by subscription

PubMed:

• open access and free to anyone

Question 12

What are medical subject heading (MeSH) terms?

Answer 12

~25,000 terms used to label articles that help you find more relevant results

Question 13

What is a keyword search?

Answer 13

database looks for exact matches for the word/phrase, and often misses relevant articles that use a synonym or misspelling of the word

Question 14

Should you use MeSH terms or keywords for a comprehensive search?

Answer 14

both

MeSH strengths:

• finds articles on topic, no matter the exact words used
• can also find more specific, related ideas
• subheadings can help focus your search

keyword strengths:

• some articles do not have MeSH terms
• some ideas do not have MeSH terms

Question 15

What are limits?

Answer 15

allows focus on special populations or study types