Evidence Syntheses
You may be able to find the clinical answer you are looking for in a favored evidence synthesis database. Databases designed to provide clinical evidence summaries or syntheses are below.
- American College of Physicians Journal ClubSummarizes the best new evidence for internal medicine from over 120 clinical journals.
- Joanna Briggs Institute EBP Database This link opens in a new windowEvidence-based practice database with a global focus. Find systematic reviews, protocols, recommended practices, evidence summaries, best practice and consumer information sheets, and technical Reports.
- UpToDate This link opens in a new windowPopular, go-to resource synthesizes evidence with expert opinion. Includes topic monographs, patient education, practice updates, drug interactions, guidelines, and medical calculators.
Systematic Reviews
Many systematic reviews also attempt to synthesize and summarize the evidence through study pooled results and met-analysis. Most databases provide an option to filter results by article type, including systematic reviews.
- Cochrane Database of Systematic ReviewsThe Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews provides access to full-text systematic reviews.
- PROSPEROAn international database of prospectively registered systematic reviews in health and social care. Be sure to check and see if someone else is already working toward publishing on your topic.
- Annual Reviews This link opens in a new windowProvides comprehensive, in-depth review articles on topics ranging from basic sciences to the clinical sciences. These reviews are best used as introductions to new research topics.
- PubMed@USC This link opens in a new windowFind the Article Type limiter on the left side of the Pubmed search results and choose Systematic Reviews.
Critical Appraisal
The following resources critically appraise published research for quality of methodology and strength of evidence, or offer critical appraisal tools.
- Annals of Internal Medicine ACP Journal ClubACP Journal Club summarizes the best new evidence for internal medicine from over 120 clinical journals. Research staff from McMaster University, clinical editors & a worldwide panel of over 3600 physicians assesses the clinical relevance and newsworthiness of rigorous studies.
- CEBM Critical Appraisal ToolsCritical appraisal worksheets to help you appraise the reliability, importance and applicability of clinical evidence. Worksheets cover Systematic Reviews, RCTs and Qualitative Studies in multiple languages.
- Center for Evidence-Based Medicine EBM ToolsIncludes a how-to guide on finding evidence, concise tools for NNT, Likelihood Ratios, and more involved information on data extraction and meta-analysis.
- Critical Appraisal Skills Program CASP ChecklistsThe questions in the checklists are designed to help you think about several aspects in a structured way. 1. Are the results of the study valid?; 2. What are the results?; 3. Will the results help locally?; 4. Is the study methodologically sound?
- JAMAevidence Critical Appraisal WorksheetsCreate and use your MyAccess account to access a number of critical appraisal tools. See also the Education Guides tab for critical appraisal by study type.
- JBI Critical Appraisal ToolsTools and checklists cover not only RCTs but also case reports, cohort studies, economic evaluations and qualitative research.