Searching for evidence

When you have completed this course, you will be able to:

• formulate a structured clinical question
• select information resources according to your information requirement
• search for and retrieve relevant information using a range of resources.

Dr Ayesha Mahmud MBBS DRCOG MRCOG (2019)

Dr Mahmud is a member of the eLearning Core Knowledge editorial board, based at Birmingham Women's NHS Foundation Trust, University of Birmingham.

This course is intended to help clinicians gain core knowledge for O&G training and the MRCOG examinations. It can also be used by O&G consultants to refresh their knowledge of the area or for teaching.

Pirozzo S. Searching the medical literature. In: Mayer D, editor. Essential Evidence-based Medicine. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2009.

Joy J, McClure, N. The art of reviewing a paper. The Obstetrician & Gynaecologist 2014;16 129–34.

Booth A. Chapter 3: Searching for studies. In: Noyes J, Booth A, Hannes K, Harden A, Harris J, Lewin S, et al (editors). Supplementary Guidance for Inclusion of Qualitative Research in Cochrane Systematic Reviews of Interventions. Version 1 (updated August 2011). Cochrane Collaboration Qualitative Methods Group, 2011.

US National Library of Medicine. PubMed online training [Accessed September 2019]. 

Royal College of Obsetricians and Gynaecologists. Effective Literature Searching [Accessed November 2022].

Grandage KK, Slawson DC, Shaughnessy AF. When less is more: a practical approach to searching for evidence-based answers. J Med Libr Assoc 2002;90:298–304.

Kulier R, Gee H, Khan K. Five steps from evidence to effect: exercising clinical freedom to implement research findings. BJOG 2008;115:1197–1202.