"the integration of best research evidence with clinical expertise and patient values." (Sackett, David L., et al., Evidence-based medicine: how to practice and teach EBM. New York: Churchill Livingstone, 2000. p. 1)
1) Processing information into high levels of evidence takes time, and there is no guarantee that evidence exists at all levels for a specific clinical question.
2) Start with the highest level of evidence available. High-level resources build upon resources found in the lower levels of the pyramid to provide concise and up to date information.
3) Preappraised resources have a strict filtering process to insure that only high-quality information is included. Good resources will make their filtering processes readily available to users.
Search for Evidence
This guide includes links to several high quality resources to search for evidence. These are often stand-alone products that search a range of literature but do not encompass all the levels of the evidence-based medicine resource ecosystem.
One way to search for many different types of resources at once (systematic reviews, primary literature, guidelines, etc..) is to use a federated search engine. The MSU Libraries has basic access to Turning Research Into Practice (TRIP) one of the best examples of an EBM federated search engine.
