Objectives | Contents | How to Use this Tutorial | Credits and Feedback
| Welcome! This tutorial is designed to teach you how to select and search key resources to locate evidence-based information for clinical decision-making. Many high-quality sites on the Internet provide pointers to long and detailed lists of EBM literature sources, but few provide guidance on how to choose the most useful tools from among all of these options. Specific techniques for effective searching are also not easy to find, with the exception of the many instructional pages on MEDLINE searching. However, a search of the enormous MEDLINE database is not always optimal when looking for the best clinical evidence. More and more resource tools are available in the form of peer-reviewed, pre-appraised compendia that filter out unreliable or irrelevant information. Many of these evidence-based repositories provide value-added summaries, expert commentary and specific recommendations. The emphasis in this tutorial is on understanding how and when to use core EBM resources and techniques for productive searching. The tutorial assumes you are already familiar with basic database searching techniques. If you need assistance with concepts such as Boolean operators and wildcards, see the “Information Retrieval Skills for Medicine” tutorial from University of Leicester Clinical Sciences Library. Of particular interest is the section on “Successful Database Searching.” This tutorial will cover more advanced searching concepts, such as understanding the use of controlled vocabulary and thesaurus terms.
ObjectivesBy the time you complete this tutorial you should be able to:
This tutorial is not designed to teach you the principles of evidence-based medicine itself, although we will review the basics. The EBM process is well documented, both in the medical literature and on the Internet. To learn more, see Introduction to Evidence-Based Medicine, a tutorial from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Health Sciences Library and the Duke University Medical Center Library or the Centre for Evidence Based Medicine site from the University of Toronto.
ContentsThis tutorial includes the following individual sections: Welcome (the page you are on now) summarizes the purpose of this tutorial Introduction briefly reviews EBM and highlights key literature resources Starting Your Search presents a strategy for choosing EBM tools. It also introduces a clinical scenario and a searchable clinical question Using Key EBM Resources describes content and searching techniques for four key resources:
Quiz offers a chance to review what you have learned Resource Links provides pointers to other web-based collections of EBM resources References lists the books and articles used in constructing this tutorial Evaluation is a place for you to provide valuable feedback that will help us improve this tutorial.
How to Use This TutorialNavigationIt is best to follow the sequence of sections if you are new to the topic of evidence-based literature searching. To move from one section to another, click on the navigation bar you will find on the left side of each page of this tutorial. Links to WebsitesThis tutorial includes links to other Websites. Wherever this tutorial links to an external Web site, that site will open in a new browser window. To return to this tutorial, close the window of the external Web site. The window containing this tutorial should still be on your screen. Good luck!
Credits and FeedbackMembers of the Education Services staff at the UNC Chapel Hill Health Sciences Library created this tutorial. Please send feedback by completing the form on the Evaluation page of this tutorial. We look forward to hearing from you.
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