EBM: Acquiring Best Evidence
Session Description: Searching for current best evidence in the medical literature has become a central skill in clinical practice. On average, clinicians have 5 to 8 questions about individual patients per daily shift and regularly use online evidence-based medicine (EBM) resources to answer them. Some now even consider that ‘the use of search engines is as essential as the stethoscope.’ (Guyatt 2008) The focus of this session will be on practical PubMed searching techniques for acquiring best evidence. Students will learn about how the MEDLINE index forms the backbone of PubMed and how PubMed interprets and “maps” search terms. They will have a chance to practice the techniques demonstrated. We will also review strategies for determining whether the a source of evidence is the best available evidence to answer the clinical question at hand.
Speaker: Rachel Pinotti, MLIS and Andy Coyle, MD
Time: 3pm-4pm
Annotated Slides
Learning Objectives: At the end of this session, the student learners will:
- Understand the mechanics of how PubMed works
- Utilize advanced PubMed features such as filters, sorting, fielded searching, and MeSH searching
- Determine that the evidence they have located is the best available evidence to answer a given clinical question