Essential Health Links: Evidence Based Medicine

Note: The National Library of Congress (U.S.) Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) defines evidence based medicine as 'the process of systematically finding, appraising, and using contemporaneous research findings as the basis for clinical decisions. Evidence-based medicine asks questions, finds and appraises the relevant data, and harnesses that information for everyday clinical practice. Evidence-based medicine follows four steps: formulate a clear clinical question from a patient's problem; search the literature for relevant clinical articles; evaluate (critically appraise) the evidence for its validity and usefulness; implement useful findings in clinical practice.'

see also

Key
(Focus on Low-Income Countries) indicates that the site has a specific focus on health information in developing countries.
(French) indicates text in a language other than English.
* This symbol indicates that the site has been recommended as one of the top 20 'General Resources'.

Page Contents

Abstracts of Cochrane Reviews
Bandolier Knowledge
Best BETs
Clinical Evidence
Critical Appraisal Skills Programme
Evidence-Based Medicine Resource Center
Introduction to Evidence-Based Medicine
Navigating the Maze: Obtaining Evidence-Based Medical Information
Nesbit Guide Evidence-Based Resources
Netting the Evidence Google Search Engine
Prodigy (Practical, reliable, evidence-based guidance)
SUMSearch
Systematic Reviews: What Are They and Why Are They Useful
Telemedicine Research Centre
Trip Database: Turning Research into Practice
User's Guide to Evidence Based Practice

Listing

* Abstracts of Cochrane Reviews
Cochrane reviews are systematic reviews of the medical research literature, updated continually as new research becomes available. http://www.cochrane.org/reviews/en/

Bandolier Knowledge
 The Bandolier Knowledge site is the electronic version of an independent journal of evidence-based healthcare that is authored by Oxford University scientists. This journal is based on systematic reviews found in PubMed and the Cochrane Library plus additional research by the authors. Access to the fulltext documents is via a topical listing of the 'systematic reviews' that have been published in the print version of the journal with a six month delay. http://www.jr2.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/knowledge.html

Best BETs 
 This site aims to provide evidence-based answers to real-life clinical questions. BETs has a focus on emergency medicine, but also covers questions in cardiothoracics, nursing, primary care and paediatrics. The site is maintained by the Emergency Department of Manchester Royal Infirmary, UK. http://www.bestbets.org/

* Clinical Evidence
Clinical Evidence is the international source of the best available evidence for effective health care. It begins with common clinical questions and then looks for the evidence addressing those questions. E-access is free in developing and transitional countries. Access is provided for users of internet service providers with IP addresses in the following countries: http://journals.bmj.com/subscriptions/countries.shtml/. The site is maintained by the BMJ Publishing Group. http://clinicalevidence.bmj.com/ceweb/index.jsp

Critical Appraisal Skills Programme
This site is based on the CD-ROM and workbook titled ‘An Introduction to Evidence-Based Prescribing’. This website aims to familiarize individuals with the background to Evidence-Based Practice, and develop skills to utilize the best evidence from systematic research. It was developed by the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) and the Department of Knowledge and Information Science, part of the Public Health Resource Unit, Oxford, UK http://www.caspinternational.org/ebp/

EBM Tools
 The site contains an overview of the various components of evidence based medicine (EBM). The 'tools' includes EBM levels of evidence, methodology for addressing clinical questions, study outline on EBM, brief EBM glossary, search tips for MEDLINE users, and links to other evidence based health care Internet resources. The site is maintained by the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine, University Department of Psychiatry, Warneford Hospital, Oxford, UK http://www.cebm.net/index.aspx?o=1023

Evidence-Based Medicine Resource Center
 The EBM Resource Centre contains considerable information about EBM including fact sheets, newsletter issues, links to other sites, a bibliography, and abstracts of current articles. The site is maintained by the New York Academy of Medicine and the Evidence-Based Medicine Committee of the American College of Physicians. http://www.ebmny.org/pubs.html

Introduction to Evidence-Based Medicine
This online tutorial teaches the basics of Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM): how to construct a clinical question, identify search strategies that could improve MEDLINE retrieval, and identify key issues that help determine the validity of evidence. This is a joint project of Medical Center Library, Duke University, U.S., and the Health Sciences Library, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, U.S. http://www.hsl.unc.edu/services/tutorials/ebm/

Navigating the Maze: Obtaining Evidence-Based Medical Information
 The site is an overview of how to obtain evidence based medicine information. It includes a 'pyramid' of EBM resources, summaries of specific databases (some proprietary), useful Internet sites and search tutorials. The site is maintained by the School of Medicine, University of Virginia, U.S. http://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/internet/library/wdc-lib/collections/ebm/index.cfm

Nesbit Guide Evidence-Based Resources
 This gateway contains brief annotated links to numerous evidence based resources on the Internet. It is organized into several broad categories and is maintained by the Edward G. Miner Library, University of Rochester, U.S. http://www.urmc.rochester.edu/hslt/miner/digital_library/evidence_based_resources.cfm

Netting the Evidence Google Search Engine
This site is a customized Google search engine, dedicated to the methodology of evidence based medicine. The search engine accesses 107 sites as of October 2007. This tool replaces the ‘Netting the Evidence’ website that had been maintained by Sheffield University, UK. http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=004326897958477606950%3Adjcbsrxkatm

Prodigy (Practical, reliable, evidence-based guidance)
 PRODIGY provides clinical knowledge for healthcare professionals working in primary care. Via a subject index, it contains information on 200 primary care topics plus a quick reference guide, drug information and patient education leaflets. It is maintained by the National Health Service, UK. http://www.cks.library.nhs.uk

SUMSearch (Spanish, Italian)
SUMSearch is a useful and novel way to find medical evidence on the Internet. The user can search by keyword alone or by keyword in combination with any or all of the following : Treatment, Diagnosis, Physical Findings, Screening/Prevention, Prognosis, Etiology/Causation or Adverse Treatment Effects. http://sumsearch.uthscsa.edu/

Systematic Reviews: What Are They and Why Are They Useful
Developed by the School of Health and Related Research, University of Sheffield, UK, the goal of this course is to understand the process of the generation, and potential uses of, systematic reviews. This is a step-by-step overview of the topic and includes self-assessment questions and recommended readings. http://www.shef.ac.uk/scharr/ir/units/systrev/index.htm

Telemedicine Research Centre  (Focus on Low-Income Countries)
This is the site of a South African based telemedicine centre. Besides information about the organization, it contains a summary of its programs, reports and publications and research highlights. The Centre is part of the Medical Research Council, Cape Town, South Africa. http://www.mrc.ac.za/telemedicine/telemedicine.htm

Trip Database: Turning Research into Practice
The Trip database enables health professionals to find high quality clinical evidence to support evidence based practice. The database has keyword and advanced search options. It also contains EBM Links, Medical Images and Patient Information Leaflets sections plus a specialized subject list/search tool that includes news updates. http://www.tripdatabase.com/index.html

User's Guide to Evidence Based Practice
This is a comprehensive guide for health professionals. It includes worksheets, application tools, a 'how to' tutorial, and a keyword search engine. The content is reproduced with permission from JAMA/American Medical Asssociation. http://www.cche.net/usersguides/main.asp


Return to top of page

Help us to improve Essential Health Links. Please send your comments and suggestions to: eh-links@healthnet.org

Updated: 09 April 2008