Searching the Evidence: Evidence-Based Nursing Conference: Web Based Evidence

There are some valuable sources for evidence-based medicine that are readily available on the internet.  This is important because library databases are usually restricted to the faculty, staff, and students affiliated with that institution. View content critically and evaluate with these criteria:

• Authority/Responsibility --- Who is responsible for this page?  What are their credentials?  Can you verify information? Is there a way to contact the responsible party?
• Purpose -- What is the purpose of the site/page?  Is it to inform? To educate?  To sell? To entertain?  Sometimes this information can be found in the "About" section
• Currency --- When was the site/page last updated?  Do the links work? Sometimes this information
• Objectivity --- Is the content objective and free of bias?  Does the site/page represent a single viewpoint?  Be aware of possible differences between .com, .org, edu, etc.
• Accuracy -- Is the content accurate?  Can it be verified through other sources?  Are there obvious errors in grammar, spelling, facts? Are sources listed or footnotes included?
• Appropriateness --- Is this site/page appropriate for the level of information that you are seeking?

The National Guideline Clearinghouse or NGC is a project from the Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality which is under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.  Here are some highlights & features:

• It offers extensive information on evidence-based clinical guidelines
• Videos are available and these provide training about effective searches and personalizing and saving results
• Searches can be done with natural language or MeSH terms
• Results are succinct and well organized and can be downloaded is different formats
• Results can be easily compared
• Guideline syntheses allow analysis of guidelines on similar topics
• Guideline matrix allows very focused searching

The Centre for Evidence Based Medicine or CEBM is based at University of Oxford. Some of the resources include:

• An archive of presentations on evidence-based medicine
• You-tube videos that demonstrate research strategies
• Instructions for effective searches
• Information about projects that are based on evidence-based medicine