Abstract

In an efficient search for evidence to address clinical questions, clinicians consult trustworthy collections of critically evaluated evidence when those resources exist. The “5S” hierarchy organizes these resources in terms of their usability in clinical practice and suggests which sources to consult first. When relevant evidence cannot be found in one of the more developed resources, the clinician’s ability to conduct an effective and efficient search of the health care literature to locate evidence is a crucial skill for evidence-based practice. Two features of literature database search engines are particularly helpful: subject headings and clinical queries. Subject headings are specific terms assigned by an indexer to describe a topic or concept, in addition to whatever terms the author actually used. This allows the searcher to retrieve all the literature on that topic with a single search term. Clinical queries act as filters, retaining only evidence described as coming from the strongest designs to answer questions of a specific domain. These “expert searches” are available for therapy, diagnosis, prognosis and harm (etiology) question domains in several databases and may be offered at different rates of selectivity. The searcher who uses these features in evidence-rich databases is likely to be successful in locating relevant evidence when it exists.

Notes

This work appears in the Sigma Repository pursuant to a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License attached to the work upon its publication in the journal acknowledged in this record. Please refer to the attached license (the icon at the bottom of this entry) for further information and terms. All terms of the license have been followed. The Sigma Repository is sharing this article for educational purposes only. There are no changes in this article from the original posting.

Jeanne T. Grace

Author Details

Jeanne T. Grace, RN, PhD

Sigma Membership

Epsilon Xi

Type

Article

Format Type

Text-based Document

Study Design/Type

N/A

Research Approach

N/A

Keywords:

Evidence-based Practice, Information Services, Computerized Literature Search

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

Publisher

Mahidol University, Thailand

Version

Publisher's Version

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All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record.

All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository.

All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.

Review Type

External Review: Previously Published Material

Acquisition

Proxy-submission

Date of Issue

2009-09-01

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