Evidence-Based Medicine Resources

What does it mean to search for scholarly literature? In your research classes, you should use article  databases, such as PubMed, to search for scholarly, peer-reviewed literature rather than relying on a general search engine like Google. 

• These databases contain millions of journal articles, most indexed with specific terms (such as MeSH, Emtree, or Subject), which help make your searches more focused. 
• They contain primary & secondary literature: articles that describe experiments of various kinds (primary literature) or studies that look at a group of experiments to see if there is broad support for the results of individual studies (secondary literature).

Acquiring evidence is a key part of evidence-based practice, and while there are many kinds of evidence and information you might want to find, this short article (14 minute read time) by Gabriel Rada makes a clear case for why to look at systemic review, trustworthy guidelines, and point-of-care tools in combination in addition to your other research evidence sources.

Rada, G. (n.d.). What is the best evidence and how to find it . BMJ Best Practice. Retrieved September 2, 2020, from https://bestpractice.bmj.com/info/us/toolkit/discuss-ebm/what-is-the-best-evidence-and-how-to-find-it/ 

This section and the sub-pages are based on the the "Searching the Biomedical Literature" section of the Dental Hygiene Research Guide at the University of Michigan Library.