Evidence-based Medicine Toolkit

Finding the evidence 92 Secondary sourcesOf course, if someone has already searched for and appraised evidencearound your question, it makes sense to use that informationif possible.TypeCriticallyappraised topics(CATs)Evidence-basedsummariesStructuredabstractsHealthtechnologyassessmentsSystematicreviewsDescriptionAppraisals ofevidence in responseto clinical questionsReviews of theevidence around aspecific clinical topicAppraisals ofimportant clinicalpapersAppraisals of theevidence for aspecific interventionReview of all theevidence around aspecific topicSourceCATCrawlerJournal clubsYour and your colleagues’own collectionBandolier, Clinical Evidence(www.clinicalevidence.com)EBM Online, ACP Journalclubs, evidence-basedjournalsCochrane LibraryUK NHS HTA ProgrammeCochrane LibraryA note about guidelinesAn authoritative, evidence-based guideline would give you thebest starting point for your search. However, we have assumedthat your questions tend to be the ones that aren’t answered bythe guidelines. Also, it’s important to bear in mind that not allguidelines are ‘evidence-based’ (Grimshaw 1993; Cluzeau 1999).