Finding Empirical Evidence PUB5754 – Clinical Epidemiology Lucia Ravi Librarian Medical and Dental Library
Finding Empirical Evidence
PUB5754 – Clinical EpidemiologyLucia RaviLibrarianMedical and Dental Library
Research Purpose
Develop a health promotion review that addresses a core risk factor associated with NCD’s using empirical evidence
•Impact and consequence of the health risk factor in Australia (500 words)
•Known causes of the risk factor and population burden based on review papers (1200 words)
•Summary of known preventative actions - focus no more then 4 intervention strategies using high level EBP (1800 words)
Assessment Summary:
Research Skills
– Construct an effective search strategy– Know what types of medical resources are
available and how to search them– Understand the different levels of hierarchies
of evidence available to them;– focus your search strategy on high level,
synthesised sources of evidence
Relevant Search Skills:
Search Strategy
Risk Factor: impact, causes, context in Australia
Identifying key concepts, terms:
Unhealthy Eating Impact Australia
“poor diet” causesconsequences
reasons
Western AustraliaWA
Search Strategy
Risk Factor: impact, causes, context in AustraliaAdding Boolean logic, truncation and phrases:
“Unhealthy Eating”OR
ImpactOR
AustraliaOR
“poor diet”NutritionObesity
Obes*e/ity
causesconsequences
Reason*sepidemiology
Etiology
Western AustraliaWA
Austral* ia, ian, s
• Use quotations “…….” to search for a phrase• Use asterix * to find all term derivatives• Use OR to search for/identify all similar concepts• Use AND to combine concepts and identify results that include both
AND
AND
Boolean Logic
AND retrieves all the articles with both ‘Diabetes’ and ‘Indigenous’
OR retrieves all the articles containing either ‘Aboriginal’ or ‘Indigenous’ or both
NOT retrieves all the articles containing ‘Indigenous’ but not those about
‘Canada’
Search Tips
Phrases and Truncation:smok* = smoke, smoker, smoking
Austral* = Australia, Australian, Australians, Australasian
4. Use Quotation Marks for Phrases“cigarette smoking”
Search Strategy
Constructing a search string(“unhealthy eating” OR “poor diet” OR obes*)AND (“austral*)AND(impact OR cause* OR epidemiology OR etiology OR aetiology)
In most databases enclosing terms in brackets will help order how concepts will be searched.
The Grey Literature
Finding sources for the Australian context:
Search Tips Grey Literature
Have a go:
Search one of the sources•AIHW•ABS•WHO
Identify one possible item
Share with a neighbour
YouTube Link
Research Purpose
Develop a health promotion review that addresses a core risk factor associated with NCD’s using empirical evidence
•Impact and consequence of the health risk factor in Australia (500 words)
•Known causes of the risk factor and population burden based on review papers (1200 words)
•Summary of known preventative actions - focus no more then 4 intervention strategies using high level EBP (1800 words)
Assessment Summary:
Search Databases Australian Context
Have a go:
Search one of the sources•AUSTHealth•Heath & Medical Complete•CINAHL Plus
Identify one possible itemSave or send an itemShare with a neighbour
YouTube Link
Hierarchy of Evidence
Decision support systems
Problem focused, multiple questions
Simple, single questions
Hierarchy of Evidence
The hierarchy of evidence is:
•A hierarchy of the likely best evidence•Designed to be used as a shortcut by busy clinicians and researchers to find the best evidence•Assists researchers to conduct their own rapid appraisal
University of Oxford, Centre for Evidence Based Medicine. (2011). The 2011 Oxford CEBM levels of evidence: introductory document. Retrieved from: http://www.cebm.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/CEBM-Levels-of-Evidence-Introduction-2.1.pdf
Single Studies
RCT
Systematic Reviews
Evidence Based Guidelines and Summaries
• Developed by synthesising the highest level of evidence available
• Provide recommendations supported by that evidence
• May take into account resources and practices relevant to the organisation
• Concise and clinically relevant
Hierarchy of Evidence
National Health and Medical Research Council. (2009). NHMRC Levels of Evidence and Grades for Recommendations for Developers of Clinical Practice Guidelines. Retrieved from: https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/_files_nhmrc/file/guidelines/developers/nhmrc_levels_grades_evidence_120423.pdf
ACQ Resources Guidehttp://guides.is.uwa.edu.au/acqresources
Clinical Practice Resources
Have a go:
Search one of the sources•BMJ Best Practice•UpToDate•ClinicalKey
Share with a neighbour
Clinical Practice YouTube Link
Search Systematic Review Databases for Interventions
Have a go:
Search one of the sources•Cochrane•Medline •Embase•PsychInfo
Save searches and itemsShare with a neighbour
YouTube Link
Contact the University Library
http://library.uwa.edu.au
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@UWALibrary