PUB5754 Finding Empirical Evidence

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

9346 7570 – Medical and Dental Library

medref-lib@uwa.edu.au

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