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The Director's Report

Library Survey Results

Database Alert

New Linking Software

Pubmed Tips

Web Watcher

New Books....Cultural Diversity Collection

Loaner Laptops

In-person Consultation

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Searching the Clinically-Based Literature via PubMed®
by Nancy Carter-Menendez, MLS
Information & Education Services Librarian

Go to the PubMed homepage at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/.

Click on the Clinical Queries link found under PubMed Services on the sidebar.

Select either 'Clinical Queries using Research Methodology Filters' or 'Systematic Reviews.'

Clinical Queries
· created for clinical use
· includes four study categories or filters: therapy, diagnosis, etiology and prognosis
· includes two emphasis categories or filters: sensitivity (includes relevant articles but probably some less relevant) and specificity (more precise articles, with less retrieval)
· based on research done by Haynes RB et al. Developing optimal search strategies for detecting clinically sound studies in MEDLINE. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 1994 Nov-Dec;1(6):447-58. (links to the citation and filter table are on the PubMed Clinical Queries web page)

Systematic Reviews
· assists clinicians in locating systematic reviews and other similar types of articles
· your search term(s) is/are combined with citations identified as systematic reviews, meta-analyses, reviews of clinical trials, evidence-based medicine, consensus development conferences, and guidelines
· included are citations from journals specializing in clinical review studies