Subject Librarian
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Edmonton, AB Canada T6G 1C9
Purpose of this guide
To assist the user's understanding of different levels of evidence, including both pre-appraised or 'filtered' evidence and non preapparased evidence. Lists of key databases/resources for each level of research are provided.
Levels of Evidence-based Resources
Adapted by L. Tjosvold from: Agoritsas T, Vandvik P, Neumann I, Rochwerg B, Jaeschke R, Hayward R, Guyatt G, McKibbon K. Finding Current Best Evidence. In: Guyatt G, Meade MO, Rennie D, Cook DJ. eds. JAMA evidence Using Evidence to Improve Care. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill; 2014. http://jamaevidence.mhmedical.com.login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/content.aspx?bookid=847&Sectionid=69031461.
Summaries & Guidelines
"Summaries integrate the best available evidence from the lower levels..to provide a full range of evidence concerning management options for a given health problem" (DiCenso 2009).
Point of Care Tools
Evidence-based Clinical Practice Guidelines
Clinical practice guidelines often provide recommendations for clinical decision making.
- CMA Infobase: Clinical Practice Guidelines Canadian Medical Association Guidelines.
- Guideline Central Guideline SummariesSite with a wide range of guidelines from many jurisdictions.
- Tools for Practice Summarized medical evidence on specific clinical questions. Compiled by the Alberta College of Family Physicians.
Preappraised Research
SYNOPSES OF SYNTHESES
These are narrative descriptions of systematic reviews, and often include a critical appraisal of the methodology used to conduct the review.
- Public Health+Critically appraised articles from 140+ medical and allied health journals.
- NIHR Signals Discover Portal The National Institute for Health Research's ‘Discover’ portal provides a searchable source of summaries, offering a clear guide to the rationale, methodology, findings and implications of a wide range of studies and systematic reviews.
SYNTHESES
Syntheses include systematic reviews, health technology assessments and comprehensive meta-analyses. The methodology of the review is not appraised but the methodology of individual studies within the review are assessed for quality or risk of bias.
SYNOPSES OF STUDIES
These are narrative descriptions of high quality single studies and may include an appraisal of the study methodology.
- Public HealthCritically appraised articles from 140+ medical and allied health journals.
Non Preappraised Research
PRIMARY STUDIES
The quality and validity of primary studies has not yet been critically appraised or evaluated.
Filtered Databases
Some databases include only primary studies with specific study designs such as clinical trials or diagnostic studies.
To retrieve primary research studies with the best study design appropriate to your research question, consider applying a study design filter or clinical query.
Unfiltered Databases
The majority of studies are located in unfiltered databases, which contain other references and publication types in addition to primary research, such as comments, letters, and general journal articles.
Your Research Question
Determine the type of question you are asking and select the most appropriate resources to use:
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Question Type |
Resource |
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Background |
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Foreground |
Resources found in Levels of Evidence Pyramid |
More information on which resources to use for your question type:
eBook Collections
Use the Library website to search print and electronic books. Below are selected eBook packages.
- AccessMedicine Includes ebooks in clinical medicine and basic science, including Harrison's Online, Hurst's The Heart, Current Medical Diagnosis and Treatment, Metabolic and Molecular Bases of Inherited Disease (MMBID) and other major texts, with updates. Also includes a drug index.
- Books@Ovid Books@Ovid provides cross-searchable and browseable access to the full text of a wide array of medical, nursing, pharmacy and health sciences text books.
- ClinicalKey Clinical Key integrates much of Elsevier's medical and surgical content into one online resource, giving physicians access to large numbers of books, journals, videos and images. NOTE: You must be signed on to a free ClinicalKey account in order to download PDF versions of articles and book chapters.
- Springer Nature Link (formerly SpringerLink) This database provides access to the full text of books and journals from Springer, Palgrave, and Adis journals. SpringerLink publications cover life sciences, chemical sciences, geosciences, computer science, mathematics, medicine, physics & astronomy, engineering, environmental sciences, law, and economics.
Meta Search Engines - Searching Across All Levels of Evidence
- Trip Pro This is a clinical search engine designed to quickly find and use research evidence to support medical practice. The TRIP categories are: Evidence-based Synopses; Clinical Questions; Systematic Reviews; Guidelines (North American, Europe, Other); Core Primary Research; eTextbooks; Clinical Calculators; and core general medical journals retrieved from MEDLINE (PubMed). A smart, fast tool to find high quality clinical research evidence.