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JBI COnNECT Resources: Searching for the Evidence

Introduction

Why do I need to search for evidence?

In order to make an informed decision about a particular treatment or intervention for a patient/resident/client, it is important to find out what the current literature says about its feasibility, appropriateness, meaningfulness and effectiveness (FAME). (Click here for more information about these terms.) To do this a search of the relevant literature is needed. Without this knowledge, an informed decision cannot be made.

What searching resources are available?

To locate international evidence that has been sorted, appraised and summarised the following resources are available:

Alternatively if you would like to search through international evidence that has not been appraised the following resources are also available:

Who are these resources for and do I have access?

Resources are targeted at all those with a vested interest in the areas of health of the specified JBI COnNECT nodes. This includes service providers, healthcare professionals and care assistants. Searching is available to everyone (including all JBI COnNECT subscribers and JBI corporate members), however full-text access is restricted to subscribers and corporate members.

JBI Access to Search Engines/Resources:

The following Search Engines/resources are available through JBI:

The Cochrane Library

The Cochrane Library contains high-quality evidence on the effects of health care treatments and interventions to aid people in making informed decisions about health care. The Cochrane Library is produced by the Cochrane Collaboration, an international not-for-profit organisation, named after the British epidemiologist Archie Cochrane. The Collaboration prepares Cochrane Reviews and updates them regularly with the latest scientific evidence.

The Cochrane Library is made up of several evidence-based databases:

The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews

check  Cochrane Systematic Reviews explore the effects of interventions for the prevention, treatment and rehabilitation in health care settings. The majority of reviews are based on randomised controlled trials, however other types of evidence are also taken into account if appropriate.

The Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects

check  Contains reviews not conducted by The Cochrane Collaboration. This database assesses the quality of systematic reviews and summarises the review with a critical commentary of the overall quality.

Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL)

check  Contains information on published articles including the title, publication source and abstract (when available).

Cochrane Database of Methodology Reviews

check  Contains full text of systematic reviews of empirical methodological studies prepared by The Cochrane Collaboration.

The Cochrane Methodology Register

check  Provides information on publications that describe methods used when conducting controlled trials.

Health Technology Assessment Database

check  Contains information on studies regarding the medical, social, ethical and economic implications of health care interventions (referred to as health technology assessments).

The NHS Economic Evaluation Database

check  Contains details about economic evaluations of health care interventions and provides a quality assessment.

The Cochrane Library is updated quarterly and is available online through Wiley InterScience and via CD-ROM.

DARE

The Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE) is produced by the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination (CRD). The aim of CRD is to provide research-based information regarding the effects of interventions used in health and social care. It does this by conducting and disseminating reviews, providing various electronic databases free to users and offering an enquiry service. DARE is one of three database available through CRD, which also includes the NHS Economic Evaluation Database (NHS EED) and the Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Database.

DARE contains information on a wide range of health and social care topics. Each record is made up of a summary of a systematic review including a critical commentary on the review's quality. Each review must meet stringent quality criteria in order to be included into the database. DARE can be used to answer questions about the effects of interventions and for policy making and guideline development.

Records are added to DARE at the end of every month. There are four types of records in DARE:

Structured abstracts

check  These are abstracts that assess and summarise published systematic reviews and have met DARE inclusion criteria.

Provisional abstracts

check  These are brief bibliographic references to systematic reviews that could meet DARE inclusion criteria. These reviews are in the process of being assessed or are having their abstracts written.

Cochrane Reviews

check  Contains bibliographic details of Cochrane reviews that have been published as a journal article.

Cochrane 'flag' records

check  These are references to reviews that are being prepared and maintained by the Cochrane Collaboration.

PubMed

PubMed is a free service of the US National Library of Medicine that provides access to millions of citations from biomedical literature, dating back to the 1950s. Fields covered in the bibliographic database include medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, the health care system and preclinical sciences. Citations and abstracts are provided, as is access to some full-text links and other related resources.

Bandolier

Bandolier is an independent internet site that provides information about evidence-based health care. The aim of Bandolier is to locate information regarding evidence of effectiveness and provide the results in bullet points of things that worked and things that did not work (referred to as a Bandolier with bullets). Information is collected from systematic reviews, meta-analyses, randomised trials and high quality observational studies.

A journal is produced monthly that sources evidence-based health care information. The journal is targeted at health care professionals as well as consumers of health care. The journal is available in print and electronic copies; hard copies are available by subscription while electronic copies are free of charge. Other activities undertaken by the Bandolier team include research and training. Internet Bandolier is entirely dependent on sponsorship and the Oxford University Medical School information technology resources.

AHRQ

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) (formally known as the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research) aims to improve the quality, safety, efficiency and effectiveness of health care by supporting health service research that improves the quality of health care and promotes evidence-based decision making.

The AHRQ provides many services to its users, one of those being the National Guideline Clearinghouse™(NGC), a free web-based database containing evidence-based clinical practice guidelines and related documents. The aim of NGC is to provide physicians, nurses, other health care professionals and providers, and purchasers access to detailed information on clinical practice guidelines and to promote dissemination, and implementation of these resources.

Records are made up of structured abstracts that provide information regarding the guideline and its development. Links to full-text guidelines are provided (where available) as well as ordering information for hard copies. Other features of the database include a Guideline Comparison facility for users to compare two or more guidelines, and Guideline Syntheses, documents produced by NGC staff that compare guidelines covering similar topics.

JBI Databases

The following JBI databases are available through COnNECT:

JBI Database of Systematic Reviews

The JBI Database of Systematic Reviews contains reviews produced by the Joanna Briggs Collaboration in the area of evidence-based practice. Systematic reviews within the library focus on the feasibility, appropriateness meaningfulness and effectiveness of health care interventions. Reviews within the library are published in the Journal of Evidence-Based Healthcare (formally JBI Reports) and are regularly updated. All reviews are peer reviewed by at least two researchers who are experts in the field of evidence-based practice.

JBI Database of Evidence Summaries

The JBI Database of Evidence Summaries contains over 1600 standardised entries produced by The Joanna Briggs Institute. Evidence summaries are short abstracts that summarise existing international evidence on common health care interventions and activities. Evidence summaries are based on structured searches of the literature and selected evidence-based health care databases. They may support and inform a particular intervention or stand alone.

Evidence summaries have been written for a variety of professions including Registered Nurses, Enrolled Nurses, Allied Health Professionals, Care Workers, Medical Practitioners and Consumers.

Summaries are updated annually by Evidence Review Fellows within the Institute. Each summary is rated according to the JBI Levels of Evidence. Click here for more information on Levels of Evidence. JBI evidence summaries are written from the best available evidence. To ensure the quality of papers included in evidence summaries is high, the professional staff undertake critical appraisal of each paper that is included in an evidence summary. The appraisal process is standardised for consistency across staff, and is based on the items in the JBI critical appraisal forms for the conduct of systematic reviews.

There are three types of summaries developed - structured summaries that contain evidence from multiple sources, summaries based on single systematic reviews and summaries based on evidence-based Clinical Guidelines.

Structured Evidence Summaries

When developing a new structured summary or updating an existing one, the following electronic databases are searched using a selection of keywords and subject headings:

The JBI Database of Systematic Reviews
The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
The Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE)
Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL)
Medline
CINAHL
EMBASE
TRIP

Once the evidence is retrieved, appraised and summarised, it is incorporated into the existing/new summary.

Evidence Summaries Based on Single Reviews

Evidence summaries based on single reviews have been developed using resources from the following databases:

Evidence Summaries Based on Clinical Guidelines

Evidence summaries based on clinical guidelines have been developed using resources from the following databases:

Each summary contains the following subheadings:

QUESTION - This section contains the question pertaining to the overall aim of the summary.
CLINICAL BOTTOM LINE - This section contains a short paragraph that introduces the topic and states its clinical importance/relevance. An overview of the research is provided followed by a summary of the key findings.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE EVIDENCE - This section outlines the types of evidence included in the summary.
BEST PRACTICE RECOMMENDATIONS - The section outlines the recommendations to guide practice using the evidence in the clinical bottom line.
REFERENCES - Each individual reference included in an evidence summary has an evidence rating displayed in the reference.

JBI Database of Evidence-Based Recommended Practice

Evidence-Based Recommended Practice are interventions that describe and/or recommend certain practices on selected clinical topics. Recommended Practice are based on the best available evidence and each bundle consists of an equipment list, a recommended practice, occupational health and safety provisions, and an adjoining evidence summary where evidence is available. Recommended Practice are developed by JBI in association with international reference groups composed of specialist health professionals. Each node within JBI COnNECT is supported by two international reference groups - A Corresponding Reference Group and an Expert Reference Group. Reference groups are responsible for providing guidance in their field of expertise by contributing to the development and review of materials. Click here to view Current Expert Reference Groups Members or here to view Current Corresponding reference Group Members.

Development Process

JBI seeks to develop Recommended Practice that are based on the highest levels of evidence available, according to the JBI Levels of Evidence. The process by which Recommended Practice are constructed follows a systematic process:

  1. A search of relevant evidence-based databases is conducted to find research based on the highest levels of evidence. Evidence-based databases include: Cochrane, JBI, DARE, Medline, EMBASE, CINAHL and Trip.

  2. Where no relevant Systematic Reviews, Randomised Controlled Trials or prospective studies are available, searches for relevant evidence-based Guidelines and Consensus Statements from health-related organisations are conducted.

  3. The bundle is drafted using the information located. Where applicable a level of evidence is assigned to each section of the practice to ensure users can identify the quality of evidence it is based on. PLEASE NOTE: EVIDENCE RATINGS ARE ONLY PROVIDED FOR INFORMATION BASED ON LEVELS I-III.

  4. Where no evidence is located for basic principles that are central to the intervention of interest, Research Fellows incorporate it into the bundle, however it is not assigned a level of evidence.

  5. Collections of bundles are then sent out to members of the Corresponding Reference Group (CRG). Members are invited to provide specialist knowledge for the purpose of reviewing Recommended Practice. They are required to make comments and provide opinions regarding what constitutes best practice for the practice of interest. Where no evidence or written consensus exists for a Recommended Practice, comments and information provided by Reference group members may be used to guide the recommended practice. Members are also encouraged to provide evidence to support their opinion, where possible.

  6. All comments and recommendations made by Reference Group members are sent back to the Research Fellow and are considered in light of the available evidence. Comments/recommendations are included into each bundle and are made easily recognisable for future consideration by the Expert Reference Group (ERG).

  7. The Recommended Practice are then sent to the Expert Reference Group for final approval, taking the CRG comments into consideration. Depending on the feedback received from Reference Group members, the Recommended Practice may be re-sent for final review and comments.

  8. Following final review, the Recommended Practice is uploaded to the COnNECT Database. All sections that are not based on levels I-III but approved by the ERG are left blank and are referred to as level IV.

JBI Database of Best Practice Information Sheets

Best Practice information sheets are summaries based on the results and recommendations of systematic reviews. Originally six pages in length, Best Practice was reduced to four pages in 2006. Best Practice sheets are easily disseminated and provide busy health professionals access to key issues and recommendations that have been collected from a large volume of material. The Best Practice series is available in hard copy to Institute members and free of charge in electronic format (PDF) from the Institute web site.

JBI Online Journal Collection

JBI Members and COnNECT subscribers are provided with free electronic subscriptions to a range of peer-reviewed journals published by Blackwell Publishing, as well as free subscriptions to JBI journals and other publications. Blackwell publishes over 750 journals and 600 text and reference books annually, across a wide range of academic, medical, and professional subjects. Blackwell Publishing provides access to their journals on the Synergy platform.

The Blackwell journals currently available in the JBI Collection include:

JBI Database of Consumer Information Summaries

This database consists of standardised summaries on a wide range of health care interventions and activities targeted at consumers of health care i.e.patients/residents/clients, relatives and carers. Each summary is based on the best available international evidence and each year, every existing entry is updated and new entries are added in response to requests from members/subscribers.

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Last revised: 05 Mar 2010    URL: http://www.jbiconnect.org/connect/info/about/resources_searching.php

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