This document discusses effective strategies for searching for evidence in databases. It outlines the basic principles, including carefully defining a clinical question using PICO elements, choosing appropriate search terms, broadening searches using synonyms and truncation if needed, and using Boolean operators. The document provides guidance on elaborating the search steps and using index terms and MeSH headings to search PubMed and other databases. The overall goal is for students to understand how to effectively search PubMed and other resources to find evidence.

1. Searching for EVIDENCE
Saurab Sharma, MPT
Lecturer, KUSMS
EBPP
Lecturer 5

2. Objectives
• At the end of the class, students should be
able to:
– Understand basic principles of effective
searching
– Search an article from Pubmed
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3. Different search engines/
databases
• Pubmed/medline
• CINAHL
• OVID
• Cochrane
• PEDro
• Scopus
• ScienceDirect
• Proquest
• Google Scholar
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4. Basics of searching
1. Carefully define your clinical question
2. Choose your search terms
3. Broaden your search if necessary (with
synonyms, truncation and/or wildcards
4. Use Boolean Operators
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5. 1. Carefully define your clinical question
• PICO
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6. 2. Choose your search terms
• PICO
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7. 3. Broaden your search if necessary
• If initial search yields no results
• Use synonyms and or related terms
– See list at eg: www.emedicinehealth.com
• Truncation: use first part of the keyword and use
symbol (* pubmed, : $ ovid) (eg: disease*)
• Wild cards: use ? Within or at the end of keyword
to substitute for ONLY one character. (eg: wom?n)
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8. 4. Use Boolean Operators
1. AND
2. OR
3. NOT
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9. 4. Use Boolean Operators
1. AND
2. OR
3. NOT
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10. Elaborated steps
1. Identify components of question PICO
2. Compose your clinical question
3. Construct the final clinical question
4. Record keywords and phrases
5. Identify synonyms and variant words
6. Use truncation, wild cards and Boolean terms
where appropriate
7. Decide the online resource(s) to search
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11. Index term
1. MeSH terms (Pubmed)
2. Emtree (EMBASE)
3. CINAHL subject headings (CINAHL)
• Organized hierarchically using tree structure
• Broader terms higher in the tree
• Used to broaden or narrow the search
• Eg: stroke
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12. References
• Hoffmann T, Bennett S, Del Mar C. Evidence-based
Practice across the health professionals. Churchill
Livingstone. Elsevier Australia. 2010
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