How to search OVID Evidence-Based Medicine Reviews Databases
(ACP Journal Club, CDSR, CCTR, & DARE) What is Evidence-Based Medicine?
It is a growing, international movement in health care that encourages physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and allied health professionals to seek out, appraise, and apply the best evidence from the medical literature when confronted with patient treatment decisions.
What are OVID Evidence-Based Medicine Reviews Databases?
They are comprised of 4 sources designed by OVID’s Clinical Information Products Division for use by clinicians and researchers ACP Journal Club (1991-present)
1 ACP Journal Club (ACP) contains the full text of the 2 journals ACP Journal
Club (by the American College of Physicians) and Evidence-Based Medicine (joint publication of the ACP and the BMJ Publishing Group).
Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (1991-present) Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (2001-present) Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effectiveness
2 Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR) is prepared by the Cochrane
Collaboration. The full text reviews are presented in two types: (i) complete reviews -regularly updated reviews, prepared and maintained by Collaborative Review Groups; and (ii) protocols for reviews - background, objectives and methods of reviews.
3 Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) is a list of
definitive controlled trials identified by contributors to the Cochrane Collaboration and others, as part of an international effort to hand search the world's journals and create an unbiased source of data for systematic reviews.
4 Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effectiveness (DARE) is a full-text database
containing critical assessments of systematic reviews from a variety of medical journals. DARE is produced by the expert reviewers and information staff of the National Health Services' Centre for Reviews and Dissemination (NHS CRD) at the University of York, England. DARE records cover topics such as diagnosis, prevention, rehabilitation, screening, and treatment.
Starting a search
1. Click on Indexes & Databases on the UBC Library home page http://www.library.ubc.ca 2. Click on E, then click on EBM Reviews to search all 4 databases simultaneously OR 3. Find and select ACP Journal Club (ACP) or Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR) or Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) or Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effectiveness (DARE) to begin searching. Tip! For more information on each database, click on the change database icon and then click on to the left of the database name. the information icon
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Keyword or phrase searching
The 4 OVID EBM Reviews databases use keyword or phrase searching - there are no authorized subject headings (unlike MEDLINE, which uses MeSH). When searching by keyword it is very important to think of all the possible terms (synonyms, variant spellings) associated with your topic. Since every word of the document text is searchable, including references, captions, and footnotes, you may get some results of questionable relevance. Click in the search box and enter your keyword or phrase: examples: bone density drug abuse acute asthma synonyms: cancer or neoplasm variant spellings: tumor or tumour pediatrics or paediatrics
Tip! Click on the red Details button to see how many records there are in each the 4 EBM Reviews databases for a particular search.
Other search tips
Truncation and wildcards can be useful in keyword searching. Truncation Type the desired root word or phrase followed by the truncation character $ (dollar sign). For example, disease$ would retrieve records with the word disease, as well as the words diseases, diseased, etc. Wild card The wild card character ? (question mark) can be used within or at the end of a keyword to substitute for one or no characters. It is useful for some plural forms (e.g. wom?n would retrieve records with the words woman or women). However, there must be at least two characters in front of the ? symbol
Combining search sets using AND or OR
1. Click on the Combine icon. 2. Mark the search sets to select the terms that you wish to combine. 3. Select either OR or AND Boolean logic operator. 4. Choose OR to retrieve any of the terms (e.g. labor or labour). 5. Choose AND to retrieve all of the terms (e.g. asthma and children). 6. Click on the Continue button.
Tip! Because all 4 EBM Reviews databases use keyword or phrase searching, you will find that your results are the same, whether you combine your search terms after you search each one individually (e.g. set 3), or you combine your search terms in one line (e.g. set 4). The advantage of searching concepts separately is that you have more flexibility to combine them later.
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Limiting a search
1. Click on the More Limits icon. 2. Choose a search to limit by selecting the adjacent button in your search history. (OVID automatically defaults to the last search). To learn more about a limit, select the associated information icon. • Limit categories in ACP Journal Club include Diagnosis, Therapeutics, Prognosis, Etiology, Economics, Quality Improvement, Editorials, Letters, EBM Trends, Clinical Prediction Guide, Articles with Commentary and Publication Year • Limit categories in Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews include Systematic Reviews, Protocols, New Reviews and Recently Updated Reviews. • Limit categories in Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) include Cochrane Group, Latest Update, Publication Type and Publication Year. • Limit categories in Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE) include New Reviews and Recently Updated Reviews. 3. Select checkboxes for desired limits and then click on the Limit a Search button located above the search history box. NOTE: Select limits cautiously. Often only one limit category is used for each article in ACP Journal Club and Cochrane – selecting more than one limit may severely restrict your search.
Browsing journals in ACP Journal Club
In ACP Journal Club, you can browse through the issues of Evidence-Based Medicine and ACP Journal Club by clicking on the Browse Journals icon (located to the right of the search box) on the Main Search screen. Then click on the Issue List to see the list of issues by date
Browsing topics in Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
You can browse articles in the database by topic, and access information about individual Collaborative Review Groups by clicking on the Browse Topics icon (located to the right of the search box) on the Main Search screen.
Displaying and marking search results to print/email/save
1. From the main search page click on Display to see your search results. 2. From the brief citation (author, title and journal fields) you can click on Abstract, Complete Reference, Article Review (in ACP Journal Club and DARE) or Topic Review (in Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews) to view the full text of the article. 3. To mark citations, click on the box(es) on titles display or at abstract/complete reference. 4. Use the Results Manager (see next section) to PRINT/EMAIL/SAVE records.
Results Manager – Printing/Emailing/Saving
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1. To print, email or save citations in your search, use
the Results Manager. 2. Select the citations to keep using the Results column (e.g. all, selected, range, etc.). 3. Select your preferred Fields display. Most searchers prefer “Citation & Abstract” fields. 4. Actions allow searchers to display citations for printing, to email or to save citations. Tip! Leave Results Format as OVID (i.e. the default) unless you are using EndNote, Reference Manager or RefWorks. To automatically export your citations to EndNote, Reference Manager or RefWorks, choose the Direct Export option and click Save.
Printing in the Library
Using the Results Manager, click on Display to view your search results. Then click Print in your browser to send it to the print station. Find the number of your computer (e.g. Woodward-25), and use it to retrieve your printout from the print station.
Deleting search sets from your search history
On the main search page click on Delete Searches (located at the bottom of the search history box). Using the checkboxes provided, select one or more search sets to delete, then press Continue. You may also choose Delete All Searches. Remember, deleted sets cannot be recovered.
Saving search history • • •
You can select Save Search/Alert to save searches. To save searches, you must first set up a free Personal Account. Personal Account and Saved Searches/Alerts buttons are located just above the search history box on OVID's main search page. You have two options for saving: Temporary (72 hours) and Permanent.
Click Logoff from the main search page so that others may use the database
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