GSU Library Research Guides: Evidence-based Medicine: Core EBM Databases

Core Databases

PubMed This link opens in a new window
Find the Clinical Queries link in middle column under PubMed Tools. Five study categories or filters are provided: Etiology, Diagnosis, Therapy (default), Prognosis, Clinical prediction guides. Two scope filters are provided: Broad: Sensitive search – includes relevant citations but probably less relevant; will retrieve more (default) Narrow: Specific search – will get more precise, relevant citations but less retrieval See Search by Clinical Study Category and Find Systematic Reviews sections. If doing a normal PubMed search, you can also use Limits to limit to certain Types of Articles, such as Clinical Trial, Meta-Analysis, Practice Guidelines, Randomized Controlled Trial, Review, Guideline, Systematic Review etc.
MEDLINE with Full Text This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Click Advanced Search. Limit options here include checkboxes for EBM Reviews, Clinical Queries, and Publication Type.

Clinical Queries are developed to retrieve results containing clinically-sound studies. The five strategies which can be applied are Therapy, Prognosis, Review, Qualitative, and Causation (Etiology).

The searcher may select a more highly-focused result for each strategy by selecting one of the following:

High Sensitivity – the broadest search to include ALL relevant material; it may include less relevant materials.
High Specificity – the most targeted search to include only the most relevant set; may miss some relevant materials.
Best Balance – retrieves the best balance between Sensitivity and Specificity.
Embase This link opens in a new window
Embase is a biomedical and pharmacological bibliographic database of published literature designed to support information managers and pharmacovigilance in complying with the regulatory requirements of a licensed drug. Embase contains over 32 million records from over 8,500 currently published journals from 1947 to the present. Embase's international coverage expands across biomedical journals from 95 countries.
Cochrane Library This link opens in a new window
Use the Quick search box in top left. May also want to use Advanced Search or MeSH Search options. Results are broken out into 7 categories. Most valuable ones are Cochrane Reviews, Other Reviews, and Clinical Trials.

CINAHL (at EBSCOhost)
Click Advanced Search and see Evidence-Based Practice check box under Limit your results. This checkbox limits to:
Articles from evidence-based practice journals
Articles about evidence-based practice
Research articles (including systematic reviews, clinical trials, meta-analyses, etc.)
Commentaries on research studies (applying practice to research)

Clinical Queries use the same format as in the MEDLINE (at EBSCOhost) entry above.
Also consider running a separate search limiting to these Publication Types: Clinical Trial, Evidence-Based Care Sheet, Practice Guidelines, Review Standards, Systematic Review
PEDro (Physiotherapy Evidence Database)
PEDro is a free database of over 15,000 randomized trials, systematic reviews and clinical practice guidelines in physiotherapy. PEDro is produced by the Centre for Evidence-Based Physiotherapy at The George Institute for International Health.
APTA's Hooked on Evidence
"A database containing current research evidence on the effectiveness of physical therapy interventions." From the American Physical Therapy Association. Must be a member to use.

EBM Portals

PubMed Health
"PubMed Health provides information for consumers and clinicians on prevention and treatment of diseases and conditions, specializing in reviews of clinical effectiveness research, with easy-to-read summaries for consumers as well as full technical reports."
Trip Database
The TRIP Database searches over 75 sites of high-quality medical information. The TRIP Database gives you direct, hyperlinked access to the largest collection of 'evidence-based' material on the web as well as articles from premier on-line journals such as the BMJ, JAMA, NEJM etc.

Embase

Embase "vs." MEDLINE

Embase currently contains over 28 million records from 1947 onwards. Currently 4,800 journals are indexed for Embase in 30 languages. Contains peer-reviewed literature, in-press publications and many conference abstracts. Contains more European literature than MEDLINE.

MEDLINE currently contains over 24 million references to journal articles from the 1940s onwards. Currently 5,200 journals in 37 languages are indexed for MEDLINE.

Of the 4,800 journals indexed in Embase, 1,800 are not indexed in MEDLINE. Similarly, of the 5,200 journals indexed in MEDLINE, 1,800 are not indexed in Embase.

You can search MEDLINE and Embase simultaneously through Embase. The amount of records in Embase includes the MEDLINE records. Records are mostly "de-duped".

Embase uses the Emtree thesaurus, similar to MEDLINE's MeSH thesaurus.

Review the Embase Quick Guide below before you go.

Embase Quick User Guide
Getting Started with Embase - Video Tutorial
Embase Guide 101 - Searching Using Emtree
Embase Guide 102 - Searching with Embase
Embase Guide 201 - Systematic Reviews
What's the difference between PubMed, Medline & Embase?
PubMed, MEDLINE, and Embase all let you access MEDLINE, the U.S. National Library of Medicine's biomedicine bibliographic database. However, there are several differences between the options, including additional citations in PubMed and, especially, Embase.
Cochrane Handbook, section 6.4.5: Controlled vocabulary and text words
The Cochrane Handbook's explanation of MEDLINE vs. Emtree and how to use them.