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Evidence Search is available to search online at: www.evidence.nhs.uk
Finding Evidence: Evidence Search
Evidence Search is a search engine developed to find high quality health and social care
information. The content does not routinely include primary research but instead covers
secondary evidence including guidelines, systematic reviews and care pathways all from
trusted sources. As such searching Evidence Search complements a healthcare
database search.
Along with the following other sources,
Evidence Search comprises NICE Evidence
Services from the National Institute for Health
and Care Excellence:
British National Formulary (BNF)
British National Formulary for Children
(BNFC)
Clinical Knowledge Summaries (CKS)
Journals and Databases (NHS OpenAthens)
The features of Evidence Search include:
Free to use
No username or password required
Desktop PC compatible
Mobile compatible
Tablet compatible
Quick and easy to search
Search results can be exported
Search results can be shared
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Evidence Search can be searched just like many other search engines.
Searching Evidence Search
To find high quality evidence most search topics
on Evidence Search will only require a simple
search for terms on the population (P) and
intervention (I) components of a PICO question.
As with any search it is worth spending some
time thinking about the search topic beforehand
to identify any relevant search terms.
For the benefit of this guide evidence on the
example topic of (P) children with gastroenteritis
and (I) ondansetron will be searched for.
As you enter search terms Evidence Search
might auto-suggest recommendations. To
ignore any recommendations simply continue to
type your own terms. Or, select a
recommendation from the list of suggestions, for
example gastroenteritis, and click on the search
button.
Enter search terms in the search box and click on the search button
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Alternatively search results can be displayed in
order of the date of their publication, with the
most recently published displayed first by click-
ing on sorted by date.
Evidence Search results pages are displayed in
2 panels:
Right-hand panel displays the search
results
Left-hand panel displays the filters for
narrowing search results
Located at the bottom of each page of search
results is the option to navigate through each
page or change the default number of search
results included on a page from 10 to 50 or 100
or 250.
By default search results are displayed in order of their relevance as determined by a
combination of the following factors: date of publication; quality of evidence and frequency
of search terms. Thus Evidence Search aims to place the most useful evidence on the first
couple of pages of search results.
Click on either relevance or date to sort by Evidence Search results in order of their
relevance or date of publication
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Focusing an Evidence Search
Evidence search results for search topics
using a single search term can yield a large
number of results. To narrow the results of a
search topic consider searching for more than
one search term. Like most other search
engines Evidence Search automatically
combines two or more search terms with
AND so that search results will contain both
terms. Adding the search term child after the
previous search term of gastroenteritis will
yield search results containing both parts of
the population component of our search topic
- (P) children with gastroenteritis.
Evidence Search automatically combines two or more search terms with AND
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Search tips for Evidence Search
Evidence Search is intuitive when it comes to searching, for example:
It will automatically search for the plurals of any search terms:
e.g. searching for epilepsy will also find epilepsies
It will automatically search for common alternative spellings
e.g. searching for anaesthesia will also find anesthesia
It will automatically search for common acronyms
e.g. Multiple Sclerosis will also find MS
It is also possible to use the following search tips to widen a search:
Due to the way search engines like Evidence Search function when
combining search terms with OR it is recommended that you place
the combined search terms in brackets so that Evidence Search is
forced to search for these terms first, for example:
gastroenteritis (child* OR infan*)
*
Place an asterix after
the shared spelling of
different search terms
to search for all terms
child* for child, child’s,
childhood, children
and children’s
OR
Place OR between
two of more search
terms to search for
results containing
either or all terms
child or infant
‘ ‘
“ “
Place search terms in
a phrase in single or
double quotation
marks to search for
the exact phrase
“diarrhoea and
vomiting”
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Filtering Evidence Search Results
Applying a medicine filter
Accredited search results
Accredited search results have been
assessed as trusted sources and are also
earmarked in a list of search results with the
following icon :
The panel to the left of the search results displays the different filtering options available for narrowing a set of search results. Available filters
include: accredited; guidance; areas of interest*; types of information*; source*; medicine* and date. *Multiple options are available for these
filters click on the filter name to expand. More than one filtering option can be applied providing that they are applied one at a time.
The medicine filter can be used to introduce
the intervention component of our search
topic – (I) ondansetron
To apply a medicine filter either scroll down
the alphabetical list of available medicine
names or enter a search term. As you enter a
search term Evidence Search will
auto-suggest recommendations. Select a
medicines name option to apply the filter to
your search results.
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Viewing Evidence Search Results
Click on a cross (x) to remove
a filter
Click on the type of
information to apply an
additional filter
Click on Share for multiple
sharing options of search
results
A web link to a set of search results can be
shared by clicking on the Share option.
Search results can be shared on:
Alternatively click on +More for further
options to share via other social networking
platforms.
To remove a filter applied to a set of search
results either click on the cross (x) next to the
filter or click on the cross (x) next to the Clear
all filters option to remove multiple filters.
For each individual Evidence Search result the following information is displayed: title; source;
date of publication and type of information.
Click on the type of information, prefixed by
More, to apply an additional filter to a set
of results and limit them to information also
tagged as that of type of information.
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Click on Search results to go back to a full set of results
Click on Download for options to export search results
To view the full-text of a search result either click on the title to open
in the same web browser window or right-click on the title to open in
a new web browser window. Opening the full-text in the same web
browser window will require use of the back button to re-visit your
search which may result in the loss of your search results. For some
individual search results a Read summary option is available. Click
here for an abstract/summary, options to view the full-text by clicking
on the title and options to share. To go back to the full set of search
results click on the Search results link .
Individual or multiple search results can be exported as spread-sheet
(CSV) or bibliographic software (RIS) compatible files. To export
search results:
click on the option for Download
change the number of results displayed per page to 50 or more
use the checkboxes to select results
click on either Export CSV or Export RIS
BCH Staff Library Tel: 0121 333 8644 Email: [email protected]
