EBM Education Center of Excellence

The following is a list of resources, including databases, journals, and books, that libraries or individuals might want to consider adding to their collections to support the teaching and learning of evidence-based medicine.

Databases

Clinical Evidence

"Clinical Evidence is an updated compendium of evidence on the effects of common clinical interventions. It provides a concise account of the current state of knowledge, ignorance, and uncertainty about the prevention and treatment of a wide range of clinical conditions based on thorough searches of the literature."

The Cochrane Library

"The Cochrane Library is an electronic publication designed to supply high quality evidence to inform people providing and receiving care, and those responsible for research, teaching, funding and administration at all levels."

DynaMed
"DynaMed strives to provide the best available evidence updated daily, and has more than 1,000 clinical topics" with content "derived from systematic literature surveillence" and synthesized with "other clinically relevant information for easy comprehensive browsing."

eMedicine
"Launched in 1996, www.eMedicine.com comprises the largest and most current Clinical Knowledge Base available to physicians and other healthcare professionals. The evidence-based content, updated regularly, provides the latest practice guidelines in 59 medical specialties. eMedicine's professional content undergoes 4 levels of physician peer review plus an additional review by a PharmD prior to publication."

Essential Evidence Plus [formerly InfoPOEMS]
Essential Evidence Plus features must-have content, tools, calculators, and daily email alerts for clinicians who deliver first-contact care. New sections include:

Evidence-Based Medicine Reviews (EBMR)
"Evidence Based Medicine Reviews (EBMR) is a definitive electronic information resource in the EBM movement. Accessed through Ovid, the EBMR databases, ACP Journal Club, Cochrane, and DARE link to MEDLINE® and Ovid full text journals but also from the MEDLINE® abstract of the evaluated article to the EBM review."

Evidence Matters
"Evidence Matters' search engine allows a user to quickly assess therapy options for specific patients with a confirmed diagnosis." Diseases are grouped into nine modules: Cardiology, Endocrinology and Metabolic Disorders, Gastroenterology, Gynecology, Neurology, Oncology, Orthopaedics, Respiratory and Urology.

Health Services Technology Assessment Text (HSTAT)

"A free, Web-based resource of full-text documents that provide health information and support health care decision making. HSTAT's audience includes health care providers, health service researchers, policy makers, payers, consumers and the information professionals who serve these groups. "

InfoPOEMS: The Clinical Awareness System [see Essential Evidence Plus]
InfoPOEMS has changed names - go to Essential Evidence Plus for more details.

National Guideline Clearinghouse

"A public resource for evidence-based clinical practice guidelines produced by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) , originally created in partnership with the American Medical Association (AMA) and the American Association of Health Plans (AAHP)."

To receive e-mail alerts on new or updated guidelines from NGC and other AHRQ sponsored sites, subscribe to the AHRQ Update Subscription Service at:
http://www.guidelines.gov/whatsnew/subscription.aspx

Complete NGC summaries of guidelines are available in downloadable versions for viewing on Palm OS handheld computers. Instructions on how to download them can be found on the NCG web site along with a list, organized by developer, of other PDA versions and "companion documents" made available by guideline developers .

Natural Standard
"An international research collaboration that aggregates and synthesizes data on complementary and alternative therapies. Using a comprehensive methodology and reproducible grading scales, information is created that is evidence-based, consensus-based, and peer-reviewed, tapping into the collective expertise of a multidisciplinary editorial board."

Pepid Mobile Information Resources

Pepid provides access to comprehensive medical and drug resources. "PEPID LLC seeks to provide all health care professionals with instantly accessible, current, comprehensive, and authoritative clinical point-of-care reference materials to help them provide faster, more individualized, and more effective health care. Our goal is more satisfied practitioners and better patient outcomes."

PubMed / Clinical Queries

and

A specialized search, intended for clinicians and using built-in search filters has been recently revised by RB Haynes . Use one of two filters, systematic reviews or study categories--therapy, diagnosis, etiology, prognosis while searching NLM's PubMed database.

TRIP Plus Database

Trip Plus brings together all the 'evidence-based' healthcare resources available on the Internet. It started with 1,100 links recorded from 15 sources and has grown to encompass the addition of new forms of material including peer-reviewed journals and 'eTextbooks', giving the site a more rounded clinical appeal.

UpToDate
"A clinical reference designed to provide instant access to the information you need. It is comprised of thousands of original topic reviews written by a recognized faculty of experts who each address a specific clinical issue and provide detailed recommendations."

Journals

ACP Journal Club
"ACP Journal Club's general purpose is to select from the biomedical literature those articles reporting studies and reviews that warrant immediate attention by physicians attempting to keep pace with important advances in internal medicine. These articles are summarized in "value added" abstracts and commented on by clinical experts."

Bandolier

"Bandolier is a print and Internet journal about health care, using evidence-based medicine techniques to provide advice about particular treatments or diseases for healthcare professionals and consumers."

Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine

"An international, peer-reviewed journal that seeks to understand the sources and to encourage rigorous research in this new, yet ancient world of complementary and alternative medicine."

Evidence Based Practice
Recently revised format now begins every article "with a clinical question chosen by practicing family physicians. The answers are explained by members of the Family Physicians Inquiries Network, a national consortium of academic and practicing family physicians, medical librarians, and others dedicated to translating research into practice."

Journal of Family Practice
Published by the American Academy of Family Physicians. In addition to articles geared towards family physicians, this journal has a section entitled "Putting Evidence into Practice" which includes POEMS, Applied Evidence reviews and Clinical Inquiries authored by Family Practice Inquiries Network (FPIN) clinicians and librarians.

Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing
A journal from the same publishers of Online Journal of Knowledge Synthesis for Nursing (OJSKN), Worldview on Evidence-Based Nursing includes "knowledge synthesis articles with best practice applications and recommendations for clinical practice, nursing administration, nursing education and public health care policy."

Textbooks

Courtney, Mary. Evidence for nursing practice.
Sydney: Elsevier Churchill Livingstone, c2005.
"Evidence for Nursing Practice is a unique text written by an expert from Australia and provides clear and practical step-by-step guidance on finding, appraising and using appropriate evidence for everyday use in a health care setting. This book takes a “how to” approach and offers sound advice and information to assist nurses in a range of key areas within their clinical practice."

Dawes M. Evidence-Based Practice: A Primer for Health Care Professionals. 2nd ed.
Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone; 2005.
"The book is a comprehensive guide to all the main strands of EBHC - finding and implementing evidence for use in clinical practice. Its focus is health professionals in the primary care field, and it consciously uses case examples from a variety of professional contexts. Examples and questions relevant to primary care practice are featured throughout the text. It discusses principles as well as practice, and provides guidance for teachers."

Gehlbach, Stephen H. Interpreting the medical literature. 5th ed.
New York : McGraw-Hill, Medical Pub. Division, c2006.
"Provides health care professionals with a proven approach to reading and understanding research articles in medical journals. Filled with examples of current and classic medical studies, the Fourth Edition features new chapters on conflicting studies, literature and public policy, and interpreting drug trials."

Greenhalgh, Trisha. How to read a paper: the basics of evidence based medicine. 3rd ed.
London: BMJ, 2006
"The book is an ideal introduction for all, from first year students to experienced practitioners. This is a text that explains the meaning of critical appraisal and terms such as 'numbers needed to treat', 'how to search the literature', 'evaluate the different types of papers' and 'put the conclusions to clinical use'."

Users’ Guides to the Medical Literature: A Manual for Evidence-Based Clinical Practice
"A Manual for Evidence-Based Clinical Practice presents the sophisticated concepts of evidence-based medicine (EBM) in unique ways that can be used to determine diagnosis, decide optimal therapy, and predict prognosis. It also offers in-depth expansion of methodology, statistics, and cost issues that emerge in medical research. The CD-ROM enables an intuitive, nonlinear learning experience in coordination with the text."

Users’ Guides to the Medical Literature: Essentials of Evidence-Based Clinical Practice
"Essentials of Evidence-Based Clinical Practice will help you develop the core knowledge you need to take control of the medical literature — to uncover the relevant information, assess its validity, and determine whether it applies to your patient. The pocket-sized Essentials is succinct yet thorough in its exposition of the concepts, making it the ideal text to tote along on the wards. Affordably priced, the book and CD-ROM constitute a thorough, comprehensive, and clinician-friendly evidence-based medicine toolkit."

Halpern, Stephen H., Doughlas, M. Joanne. Evidence based obstetric anesthesia.
Malden, MA : BMJ Books : Blackwell Pub., c2005.
This text is part of the Evidence-based medicine series by BMJ Books. All books in the series are written by specialists for specialists, using examples throughout to illustrate key points. While most of the evidence is based on randomised controlled trials, other studies are cited where appropriate, e.g. when discussing adverse events. The unique accompanying websites will contain updates of new chapters and studies as they become available.

Hatcher, Simon, Oakley-Brown, Mark, Butler, Robert. Evidence-based mental health care.
Edinburgh ; New York : Elsevier Churchill Livingstone, 2005.
This books is an introduction to evidence-based mental health care for all mental health professionals, including psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses, and clinicl psychologists. Focuses on critical appraisal of rating scales and clinical decision rules, which are important in mental health. The text also contains self-tesing exercises with answers to reinforce learning.

"The authors of Practical Evidence-Based Physiotherapy interrogate the terminology and concepts of evidence-based practice drawing on their extensive experience and their international perspectives. They discuss government and professional requirements for evidence-based medicine and clinical reasoning, and offer their readers a guide to finding evidence, its critical appraisal and evaluation, and its implementation in clinical practice."

McKibbon, Ann. Eady, Angela and Marks, Susan. PDQ: evidence-based principles and practice.
Hamilton, Ont.: B.C. Decker, Inc., 1999.
Discusses different types of research methodology used in the medical literature. Also gives search strategy suggestions for searching the major medical literature databases, such as MEDLINE, CINAHL and PsycINFO.

Mayer, Dan. Essential Evidence-Based Medicine.
Cambridge University Press, 2005.
"A reasonably comprehensive, highly accurate, and easy to read textbook about EBM, suitable for all life-long learners of medicine."

Riegelman, Richard K. Studying a study and testing a test: how to read the medical evidence , 5th ed.

Philadelphia, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2004.
Gives a step-by-step process of critically appraising the health sciences literature, including overviews of statistical concepts and useful exercises.

Sackett, David L, [et al]. Clinical Epidemiology How to Do Clinical Practice Research , 3rd ed.

Boston: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins, 2005
The third edition of this popular text focuses on clinical-practice research methods. The book has a problem-oriented and protocol-based approach and is written at an introductory level, emphasizing key principles and their applications.

Straus, Sharon E.[et al]. Evidence Based Medicine, 3rd ed.

New York: Churchill Livingstone, 2005

U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. Guide to Clinical Preventive Services, 2nd ed.

. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, 1996.
"A reference source on the effectiveness of clinical preventive services-screening tests for early detection of disease, immunizations to prevent infections, and counseling for risk reduction. This book carefully reviews the evidence for and against hundreds of preventive services, recommending a test, immunization, or counseling intervention only when there is evidence that it is effective."

This section updated by:
Katherine Rickett at East Carolina University
Last modified on April 23, 2008 .