UC Library Guides: Evidence-Based Practice in Health: Selecting a Resource

Medline & PubMed: What's the Difference?

MEDLINE is the largest component of PubMed, the freely accessible online database of journal citations and abstracts created by the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM). Approximately 5,400 journals published in the United States and more than 80 other countries have been selected and are currently indexed for MEDLINE.

A distinctive feature of MEDLINE is that the records are indexed with NLM's controlled vocabulary, the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH).

A relatively small number of citations are available in PubMed and not MEDLINE.

Evidence-Based Practice Toolkit

Once you have formulated a search strategy you will need to select a resource (or resources) to search. To quickly find the answer, you would usually first search filtered (pre-appraised) resources, beginning at the top of the evidence hierarchy, moving lower down the hierarchy if required. If pre-appraised information is not available you will need to search unfiltered resources such as PubMed.

The EBP Toolkit aims to bring together all Evidence-Based online resources into a single entry point.

Resources are listed according to the hierarchy of evidence provided by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC):

Filtered Resources: Meta-Search Engines

Meta-Search Engines simultaneously search multiple evidence-based sources.

TRIP (Turning Research Into Practice) Pro Database This link opens in a new window
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This Meta-Search Engine simultaneously searches multiple evidence-based sources of systematic reviews, practice guidelines, and critically-appraised topics and articles. Also searches PubMed Clinical Queries and various other sources.
Use the PICO search option and then filter the results according to study type.
PEDro Physiotherapy Evidence Database This link opens in a new window
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Meta-Search for Randomised Trials, Systematic Reviews and Clinical Practice Guidelines in physiotherapy.
Critically appraises Randomised Trials and awards a PEDro Score.
PDQ-Evidence This link opens in a new window
PDQ ("Pretty darn quick")-Evidence provides access to systematic reviews of health systems evidence. Links together systematic reviews, overviews of reviews and primary studies.

Filtered Resources: Systematic Reviews / Meta Analyses

Filtered resources appraise the quality of studies and often make recommendations for practice.

Cochrane Library This link opens in a new window
Cochrane Library includes the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR), which are the "Gold Standard" for high-quality systematic reviews.
Also includes Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effectiveness (DARE), which contains abstracts of systematic reviews that have been quality-assessed. Each abstract includes a summary of the review together with a critical commentary about the overall quality. DARE complements the CDSR by quality-assessing and summarising reviews that have not yet been carried out by The Cochrane Collaboration.
PubMed Clinical Queries This link opens in a new window
Use the Clinical Queries entry point in PubMed to find systematic reviews and other evidence-based studies

Filtered Resources: Critically-Appraised Topics [Evidence Syntheses and Guidelines]

Authors of critically-appraised topics evaluate and synthesise multiple research studies.

UpToDate This link opens in a new window
UpToDate is an evidence-based, physician-authored clinical decision support resource which clinicians trust to make the right point-of-care decisions. It is continuously updated and includes a collection of medical and patient information, access to drug monographs and drug-to-drug, drug-to-herb, & herb-to-herb interactions information, and medical calculators.
JBI EBP database This link opens in a new window
Evidence–based information and tools for providing the best possible patient care Includes Evidence Based Recommended Practices, Evidence Summaries, Best Practice Information Sheets, Systematic Reviews, Consumer Information Sheets, Systematic Review Protocols, & Technical Reports.
National Guideline Clearinghouse This link opens in a new window
A comprehensive database of evidence-based clinical practice guidelines produced by the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality (USA), in partnership with the American Medical Association and the American Association of Health Plans.
NOTE: Guideline evidence varies from expert opinion to high levels of evidence.
Australian Clinical Practice Guidelines Portal This link opens in a new window
The Clinical Practice Guidelines Portal provides access to clinical practice guidelines produced for Australian practice that have been assessed against criteria modified from the United States National Guidelines Clearinghouse, and adapted to the Australian context.
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) This link opens in a new window
UK-produced guidelines, advice, quality standards and information services for health, public health and social care. Also contains resources to help maximise use of evidence and guidance.

Royal Australian College of General Practitioners Clinical Guidelines
The RACGP produces clinical guidelines on a wide range of topics to assist GPs in their work. Also included are links to externally produced guidelines that are endorsed by the RACGP.

Natural Medicines This link opens in a new window
Evidence-based information on natural medicines.

Filtered Resources: Critically-Appraised Indivdual Articles [Article Synopses]

Authors of critically-appraised indivdual articles evaluate and synopsise individual research studies.

Bandolier: Evidence based thinking about healthcare
This is an independent journal about evidence-based healthcare published in the UK. It includes information about evidence of effectivenessand puts the results forward as simple bullet points of those things that worked and those that did not Information is sourced from systematic reviews, meta-analyses, randomised trials, and from high quality observational studies.

Unfiltered Resources: Randomised Controlled Trials (RCTs), Case Cohorts, Control Studies

Evidence is not always available from filtered resources and searching primary literature is sometimes required. It is possible to use filters in PubMed and other databases to identify studies appropriate to the clinical question.

PubMed This link opens in a new window
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To limit your PubMed search to the best evidence-producing studies: Click on "Clinical Queries" . This specialised search is intended for clinicians and has already built-in search "filters."

Four study categories--Therapy, Diagnosis, Etiology, Prognosis--are provided; select the category that matches your question type.

Indicate whether you wish your search to be more Sensitive (i.e., include most relevant articles but probably including some less relevant ones) or more Specific (i.e., including mostly relevant articles but probably omit a few).
MEDLINE (EBSCOhost) This link opens in a new window
Medline is a subset of PubMed.
Use of the "Clinical Queries" limiters and other filters will provide the best-evidence producing studies.
CINAHL Plus with Full Text (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
To limit your CINAHL search to the best evidence-producing studies: Click on the ‘Limits’ icon to use ‘Clinical Queries’ or limit to ‘Research’ or other ‘publication’ types (i.e., systematic review).
PsycINFO (EBSCOhost) This link opens in a new window
Professional and academic literature in psychology, medicine, psychiatry, nursing, sociology, education, pharmacology, physiology, linguistics, and other areas.
Use the Methodology limiter to choose desired evidence-based methodology type(s).
Scopus This link opens in a new window
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Scopus is the largest abstract and citation database of research literature and quality web sources.
NOTE: Scopus also includes EMBASE citations but does not allow searching via EMTREE subject headings.
Web of Science Core Collection This link opens in a new window
Includes:
Science Citation Index Expanded (1974+)
Social Sciences Citation Index (1974+)
Arts and Humanities Citation Index (1975+)
Conference Proceedings Citation Index- Science (1990+)
Conference Proceedings Citation Index- Social Science & Humanities (1990+)
Current Chemical Reactions (1985+)
Index Chemicus (1993+)