Transcript Evidence Based Medicine Concepts

Evaluating and Citing
Internet Sources
Pamela Fried, MBA, Director
Diana Winters, BA, Associate Director
Academic Publishing Services
and
Gary M. Childs, MS
Education Librarian—Hahnemann Library
Select slide content provided by Stephen Gambescia, PhD, MEd, MBA, CHES, Assistant Dean for Academic and Student Affairs, College of Nursing and
Health Professions and Steven Bogel, MLS, Information Services Librarian, Hahnemann Hospital
Academic Publishing Services (APS) does not serve as legal counsel to Drexel University College of Medicine or to individual
authors. Information received from APS does not constitute legal advice. Individuals should consult their own attorneys or the Office of the
General Counsel, as appropriate, with respect to legal questions or concerns about their publishing activities and copyrights.
Purpose
 Evaluate
Internet sources
 Rank scientific information by level of
evidence
 Cite Internet sources appropriately
Evaluate Internet sources
Types of Internet Sources
 The
Internet is a pathway to depositories of
sources.
 The Internet allows retrieval of a primary
source at another location, e.g., journal
(periodical) that is accessed online.
 The Internet itself holds information that could
be used as a source (usually considered
secondary or tertiary source), e.g., Web
pages.
Types of Information Sources
 Primary



information source
Must be the original scientific evidence
Must conform to acceptable scientific standards for
conducting and reporting such research
Must pass peer review
American Public Health Association: Chiropractic Health Care; Washington DC: What are authoritative
sources for scientific evidence-based and peer-reviewed information?
http://www.apha-chc.org/vaccinfo/authoritative_sources.htm
Types of Information Sources
 Secondary



information source
Integrates scientific evidence from a number of original
research studies (review article)
Conforms to scientifically acceptable methodological
standards for gathering, synthesizing, and reporting the
available evidence
Should be peer-reviewed
American Public Health Association: Chiropractic Health Care; Washington DC: What are authoritative
sources for scientific evidence-based and peer-reviewed information?
http://www.apha-chc.org/vaccinfo/authoritative_sources.htm
Types of Information Sources
 Tertiary


information source
Information drawn from primary and secondary articles
that are peer reviewed: e.g., textbook (may or may not
be peer reviewed)
Summary of the information available on a topic,
selected in an unbiased manner
American Public Health Association: Chiropractic Health Care; Washington DC: What are authoritative
sources for scientific evidence-based and peer-reviewed information?
http://www.apha-chc.org/vaccinfo/authoritative_sources.htm
Evaluating a Web Site
 .com
 .edu
 .gov
 .net
 .?
Evaluating a Web site
 Accuracy
 Authority
 Objectivity
 Currency
or timeliness
Rank scientific information by level
of evidence
What is EBM*?
 EBP
marks a paradigm shift from traditional
decision making in medicine



Intuition
Unsystematic clinical experience
Pathophysiological rationale
*EBM = evidence-based medicine; EBP = evidence-based
practice
What is EBM?

Common definition:

The conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of current best
evidence in making decisions about the care of individual
patients

Integrating clinical expertise with the best available
external evidence from systematic research

Thoughtful and compassionate use of patient values
-Sackett, BMJ 1996;312, 71-2
The Evidence Hierarchy
From: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~biomed/services.htmld/EBP_docs/pyramid-loaded.pdf
What Are Systematic Reviews?
Focus on a clinical topic and answer a specific question
 Extensive literature search for all studies with sound
methodology
 Results summarized to answer the question

For example: Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
--Connie Schardt, Health Science Library, Duke University
What Is a Meta-Analysis?
Takes systematic reviews a step further by pooling data
from individual studies as if it was one large study
 Synthesizes many studies
 Uses statistical methods to combine data from two or
more studies


Connie Schardt, Health Science Library, Duke University
What Is a Wiki?

Wiki = piece of server software that allows users to
freely create and edit Web page content using any
Web browser

Wikipedia and other wikis
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
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Most are not peer-reviewed.
None publish original research.
Anyone can contribute to or alter a page.
At best, most wikis are secondary or tertiary sources—not
primary.
Cite Internet sources appropriately
Why Use References?
 Documentation
 Acknowledgment
 Link
to additional information or resources
Citing Web Sources
 Web
site content may change frequently.
 Web site may disappear.
 Print and online versions of an article or
publication may differ.
Citing Web Sources
 Print
a copy
 Check links repeatedly throughout publication
process
 Note date accessed
 Include DOI/PMID* if journal requires
*DOI = digital object identifier; PMID = PubMed unique identifier
Citing Web Sources

Patrias, K. Citing medicine: the NLM style guide for authors, editors, and publishers
[Internet]. 2nd ed. Wendling, DL, technical editor. Bethesda (MD): National Library
of Medicine (US); 2007 [updated 2009 Jan 14; cited 2009 Mar 23]. Available
from: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/citingmedicine


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Books and Other Individual Titles on the Internet
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bookshelf/br.fcgi?book=citmed&part=A53625
Journals on the Internet
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bookshelf/br.fcgi?book=citmed&part=A55580
Databases/Retrieval Systems on the Internet
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bookshelf/br.fcgi?book=citmed&part=A57255
Web sites
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bookshelf/br.fcgi?book=citmed&part=A59231
Electronic Mail and Discussion Forums
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bookshelf/br.fcgi?book=citmed&part=A60586
Citing a Web site
Minimum acceptable data:
Author (organization)
Title
Name of Web site
URL
Date accessed
A URL alone is not sufficient!
Let’s Try Searching for Information!
 Some
suggested databases to locate EBM
information are:

MEDLINE (using EBM filters)

“Clinical Queries”
National Guidelines Clearinghouse (NGC)
 Turning Research Into Practice (TRIP)
 The Cochrane Library

For Further Information
Academic Publishing Services
 Pamela
Fried and Diana Winters
 [email protected]
 215-762-1854
Hahnemann Library Resource Department
 Gary
M. Childs
 [email protected]
 215-762-3696