Planning a Planning a Search Search

StrategyStrategy

PICO, Concept Boxes and Boolean Operators

Online Searching Online Searching at a Glanceat a Glance

• Useful terminology:o Pearl Searching: find a good article aka pearl

and look at the referenceso Boolean operators: most databases allow

boolean operators to narrow or broaden a search (AND, OR, NOT)

o Truncation: most databases use symbols such as * for truncation, e.g., dent* will retrieve dental, dentistry, dentist, etc.

BOOLEANBOOLEANSEARCHINGSEARCHING

Using AND, OR, and NOT

AND

bisphosphonates AND osteonecrosis

OR

osteonecrosis OR death of bone OR bone death OR bone necrosis

osteonecrosis NOT femur head necrosis

NOT

TruncationTruncation

Using * (asterisk) and ? (question mark)

Using * to truncate retrieves any Using * to truncate retrieves any

ending after the truncated part of the ending after the truncated part of the

word.word.

• Manag* will retrieve manage, management, manager, etc.

But, be careful

Truncating too soon can be problematic

cat*cat

catshttp://www.vetprofessionals.com/catprofessional/

http://ochumanesociety.com/dogs---cats-for-adoption/available-pets/cats-and-kittens.htmhttp://www.swordsandarmor.com/mall/miniature-Catapult-Siege-Weapon.html

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-cow.htm#slideshow

catapult

cattle

? will find different spellings within a word

wom?n will retrieve woman and women

? can also be used to find British/Canadian and American spelling

gr?y cat

gr?y cat

http://blog.sureflap.com/tag/animal-shelters/http://dnakluski.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/canadian-flag.gif

http://goodamericanpost.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/american-flag1.jpg

grey cat gray cat

British and North American spellings vary. When entering textwords in search engines for international databases such as Cochrane or Medline, it is necessary to allow for the different spellings, or else some citations may be missed.Use $ or : to get all possible endings (e.g. comput:.mp. for computer, computers, computing, computed, etc.)Use # to replace exactly one character (wom#n.mp. for woman or women)Use ? to replace 0 or 1 character (labo?r.mp. for labor or labour)

Examples U.S. British In OVID, enter as:

anemia/anaemiaetiology/aetiology

gynecology/gynaecologyhemoglobin/haemoglobin

 -e-

 -ae-

an?emia"etiology or aetiology"gyn?ecology"hemoglobin or haemoglobin"

esophagus/oesophagusfetus/foetusdiarrhea/diarrhoea

-e- 

-oe-

"esophagus or oesophagus""fetus or foetus"diarrh?ea

tumor/tumour   -o-   -ou- tumo?r

organize/organise  -z- -s- organi#e

counseling/counsellingcounseled/counselled

  -l-

  -ll-

counse$ling for specific endingcounsel

sulfur/sulphur   -f-   -ph- sul#?ur

fiber/fibre  -er-

  -re- fib:

Steps to finding Steps to finding articlesarticles

• Identify the main concepts or keywords

• Determine the best resources

• Plan the search

• Document the search and cite

• Evaluate what you find

Example topicExample topicYour hospital wants to implement a policy of placing

all HIV+ patients on INH prophylaxis therapy. You have been asked to do a review to see if that is successful in preventing tuberculosis, in particular in other African countries.

Identify the main Identify the main conceptsconcepts

• The easiest way to make your question searchable is to break it up into concepts

• For each concept, think of as many keywords/synonyms as you can

• A very popular method to use is PICO

Identify the main Identify the main conceptsconcepts

• PICO Method

P – Population I – InterventionC – Comparison (Optional)O – Outcome

PICO Example ContinuedPICO Example Continued• P – HIV positive in African countries• I – INH prophylaxis therapy• C – n/a• O – decreased rates of tuberculosis

Answerable Question: In African countries does INH prophylaxis therapy help reduce the rates of tuberculosis among HIV positive patients?

Think of synonyms or similar Think of synonyms or similar

terms or ideas to use in your terms or ideas to use in your

searchsearchPICO PICO concepts Possible search terms

Patient Population HIV positive patients in African countries

HIV positive, HIV infection, human immunodeficiency virus, Africa, Ethiopia, Eastern Africa

Intervention INH prophylaxis therapy INH prophylaxis therapy, INH preventive therapy, Isoniazid, IPT

Comparison (if any) n/a n/a

Outcome Reduction of cases of tuberculosis

Tuberculosis

Determine the best Determine the best resources resources

There are hundreds of article databases available. Which one will you use?

Most popular databases are:1. MEDLINE (accessible either through PubMed or Ovid)2. Cochrane Library3. EMBASE4. Web of Science5. Scopus 6. Google Scholar????

Plan the searchPlan the search• Now you have your searchable questions and

keywords. Where do you start?

• Each database has its own indexing system. Many have their own thesaurus or list of subject headings. If the database you are using has a thesaurus, match your keywords to the thesaurus for a more efficient search.

Using a databaseUsing a databaseOnce you’ve chosen a database, such as Medline or PubMed, search for each concept separately

Use OR to combine synonyms or similar terms or concepts (HIV+ OR HIV positive)

Use AND to combine separate concepts (HIV positive AND tuberculosis AND INH prophylaxis therapy)

• Save your searches by creating an account in each database that you use

• Use a citation management tool such as Zotero, Medeley or Endnote Web to export your citations from multiple databases

Document the search Document the search and citeand cite

• Please always evaluate the information you find, either by using given criteria or developing your own

Evaluate what you findEvaluate what you find