evidence based
clinical practice

Most of the following resources are free. $$ indicates that an individual or institutional license are required. For off campus access login to LibAccess

Searching for Resources:

Haynes R.B. (2007). Of studies, summaries, synopses, and systems: the "5S" evolution of information services for evidence-based healthcare decisions. Evidence-Based Nursing, 10, 6-7.

Tips for searching for the evidence

• Library Catalogue: New Look / Classic Library Catalogue (McMaster Libraries online catalogue)
  • Request items from the Health Sciences Library
• PubMed

• Clinical Queries
• Special Queries
• MeSH Database
• Buscar en MEDLINE con PubMed (guía de uso)
• PubMed - enhanced search (Búsqueda mejorada en PubMed)
• Ovid databases (Medline, Embase, PsycINFO)
• EBSCO CINAHL
• MEDLINEplus (español)
• PubCrawler - an Update Alerting Service for PubMed and GenBank

  PubCrawler is a free "alerting" service that scans daily updates to the NCBI Medline (PubMed) and GenBank databases. PubCrawler can keep scientists informed of the current contents of Medline and GenBank, by listing new database entries that match their research interests.

• PEDro: The Physiotherapy Evidence Database
• Essential Evidence Plus $$
• SUM Search
• Primary Care Electronic Library
• TRIP (Turning Research Into Practice) Database (Clinical Effectiveness Initiative for Wales)
• Web of Science $$ (citation linking)

Online Journals:

• ACP Journal Club $$
• Evidence-Based Gastroenterology $$
• Evidence-Based Medicine $$
• EBMH Online (Evidence-Based Mental Health) $$
• EBN Online (Evidence-Based Nursing) $$
• eJournals at McMaster

Resources:

• Medion Database

  "There are three parts within the database: Methodological studies on systematic reviews of diagnostic studies; Systematic reviews of diagnostic studies; Systematic reviews of studies on genetic tests."

• Clinical Evidence $$
• Cochrane Library $$
  • Cochrane Reviews (Abstracts)
• Informed Health Online (produced by the Health Research and Education Foundation Ltd.)
• NHS Centre for Reviews and Dissemination (CRD) Databases, including:
  • DARE Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effectiveness
  • NHS Economic Evaluation Database (NHS EED)
  • Health Technology Assessment Database
• health-evidence.ca

  "This is a web site designed to provide quality research evidence to public health decision makers, saving you time by searching, screening, and rating the systematic review evidence to compile it in a free, searchable online registry."

• FIRSTConsult $$ (an Evidence Based Primary Care Decision Support Tool providing quick concise information to Clinicians)
• PIER $$ : ACP's Physicians' Information and Education Resource
• Bandolier "Evidence based thinking about health care" (Bandolera (español))
• UpToDate (on campus access only)
• bmjupdates

Clinical Practice Guidelines:

• AGREE (Appraisal of Guidelines Research & Evaluation)
• Recommended Clinical Practice Guidelines (Guideline Advisory Committee (GAC))
• Best Practice Guidelines (Registered Nurses Association of Ontario)
• CMA Infobase: clinical practice guidelines -- Canadian Medical Association
• Clinical Practice Guidelines -- Alberta Medical Association
• National Guideline Clearinghouse (United States)
• NICE Clinical Guidelines (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, UK)

Clinical Prediction Rules:

• Clinical prediction rules (Mount Sinai School of Medicine)
• How to Use Articles About Clinical Prediction Rules (Thomas McGinn, Gordon Guyatt, Peter Wyer, David Naylor, Ian Stiell, Scott Richardson, for the Evidence Based Medicine Working Group

  Based on the Users' Guides to Evidence-based Medicine and reproduced with permission from JAMA. (2000;284(1):79-84).

Critically Appraised Topics:

• CATmaker (Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine, Oxford University)

  "CATmaker is a software tool which helps you create Critically Appraised Topics, or CATs, for the key articles you encounter about Therapy, Diagnosis, Prognosis, Aetiology/Harm and Systematic Reviews of Therapy."

• CATwalk: a guided walk through the process of doing a CAT (University of Alberta Libraries)
• BestBETS: Best Evidence Topics

Tools:

• JAMAevidence.com $$ – Follow the instructions – enter your single-use code (located on the back of your workshop ID badge) and then login with your personal account or register for a new personal account (one time only).  Participants must enter their code by 6/5/09; the subscription will then be active for 60 days.
• EBM Toolbox (Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine, Oxford University)
• Evidence-Based Medicine Toolkit (University of Alberta)

Tutorials:

• Evidence Based Clinical Practice Tutorial (Edward G. Miner Library, University of Rochester Medical Center)
• Introduction to Evidence-Based Medicine (Duke University Medical Center Library and Health Sciences Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)

Directories:

• Netting the Evidence: A ScHARR Introduction to Evidence Based Practice on the Internet (Atrapando la evidencia)
• Evidence Based Medicine (EBM) Toolkit (New York University School of Medicine. Frederick L. Ehrman Medical Library)
• Nesbit Guide to Evidence Based Resources (University of Rochester, Edward G. Miner Library)
• Resource Guide for Evidence-Based Practice (University of Alberta Libraries)

Formulating the Clinical Question

• Formulating Answerable Clinical Questions (Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto)

Including: Educational prescription

• The Well-Built Clinical Question (Duke University Medical Center Library and Health Sciences Library, UNC-Chapel Hill)
• Richardson, WS, Wilson MC, Nishikawa J, Hayward RS. The well-built clinical question: a key to evidence based decisions. ACP Journal Club. 1995 Nov-Dec;123(3):A12-13. $$
• Formulating Patient Centered Questions (University Library, University of Illinois at Chicago)
• Focusing Clinical Questions (Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine, Oxford)

Clinical Skills

• Clinical Examination Research Interest Group including the JAMA Rational Clinical Examination series
• Clinical Assessment of the Reliability of the Examination (CARE)

Teaching Tips

• Tips for learners of evidence-based medicine (Evidence-Based Medicine Series - CMAJ)
• Developing the teaching instinct. Series in Medical Teacher $$
• Brown G, Manogue M. AMEE Medical Education Guide No. 22: Refreshing lecturing: a guide for lecturers. Medical Teacher 2001;23(3):231-244. PubMed Abstract ~ Full text $$

Sites by Specialty:

Emergency Medicine:

• Evidence-Based Emergency Medicine at the New York Academy of Medicine
• Emory University, Emergency-Medicine-Ambulatory Care, Evidence Based Medicine
• BestBETS: Best Evidence Topics (Emergency medicine EBM at its best)
• Emergency Medical Abstracts $$ (not available through McMaster)
• BMC Emergency Medicine
• BEEM: Best Evidence in Emergency Medicine - BEEM Course

Family Medicine:

• Essential Evidence Plus $$
• American Family Physician
• Australian Family Physician
• BMC Family Practice
• Primary Care Electronic Library
• familydoctor.org (American Academy of Family Physicians)

Gastroenterology:

• Evidence-Based Gastroenterology $$
• Syllabi for Practising EBM: Evidence-based Gastroenterology and Hepatology (Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine, Toronto)
• BMC Gastroenterology

Internal Medicine:

• ACP Journal Club
  • Through the American College of Physicians (available to ACP members)
• ACP's PIER: the Physicians' Information and Education Resource $$
• Harrison's Online $$

Pediatrics:

• Cochrane Neonatal Systematic Reviews
• Evidence-Based Pediatrics Web Site (University of Michigan)
• Canadian Paediatric Society Position Statements
• Merck Manual: Pediatrics
• BMC Pediatrics
• Virtual Pediatric Hospital
• Evidence-Based Child Health: A Cochrane Review Journal

Surgery:

• Evidence-based Surgery (SOURCE: Surgical Outcomes Research Centre):

  Incudes the Evidence-Based Surgery articles from the Canadian Journal of Surgery

Español:

• Unidad de Medicina Basada en Evidencia (Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile)
• Buscar en MEDLINE con PubMed (guía de uso)
• Búsqueda mejorada en PubMed
• MEDLINEplus
• Bandolera
• Atrapando la evidencia: Una introducción de la ScHARR a la práctica basada en la evidencia en Internet

PDA Resources

• McMaster University PDA Resource Page
• Duke University Medical Center Library Online: Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs)
• PDA Zone (University of Alberta Libraries)
• Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine (University Health Network) [click on Handheld Resources]

Workshop Participant Sites (2007)

• Evidence-Based Child Health: A Cochrane Review Journal
• BEEM: Best Evidence in Emergency Medicine - BEEM Course

Workshop Participant Sites (2006)

• Dr. Chris Cates' EBM Web Site, including Visual Rx used to calculate NNT and produce a visual display (recommended by Victor Montori)
• EPIQ (Effective Practice, Informatics & Quality Improvement), especially the GATE approach under Critical Appraisal (recommended by Kent Stobart)
• eMedicine - from WebMD (recommended by Liz Dennett)

Workshop Participant Sites (2005)

• Evidence Based Practice Resources (Sandra Halliday - Bracken Library, Queen's University)

Workshop Participant Sites (2004)

• Unidad de Medicina Basada en Evidencia (Claudio Vera - Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile)
• Introduction to Evidence Based Medicine: Critical Appraisal and Informed Medical Practice (Eddy Lang - McGill Faculty of Medicine)
• Evidence-Based Medicine HomePage (Thomas McGinn - Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine)

Workshop Participant Sites (2001)

• Nesbit Guide to Evidence Based Resources (University of Rochester, Edward G. Miner Library)
• Introduction to Evidence-Based Medicine (Duke University Medical Center Library and Health Sciences Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
• Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine (Mount Sinai Hospital, University of Toronto)
• Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine (Oxford, England)

Just for fun:

• Isaacs D. , Fitzgerald D. Seven alternatives to evidence based medicine. BMJ. 319(7225):1618, 1999 Dec 18-25.
• Clinicians for the Restoration of Autonomous Practice (CRAP) Writing Group. EBM: unmasking the ugly truth. BMJ. 325(7378):1496-8, 2002 Dec 21.
• Smith, G.C.S., Pell, J.P. Parachute use to prevent death and major trauma related to gravitational challenge: systematic review of randomised controlled trials. BMJ. 327:1459-1461, 2003 Dec 20.  

EBCP Workshop information

Librarian information