Conclusions

Recognizing that clinicians have time constraints and yet want to provide the best possible care to their patients, an evidence-based approach offers clinicians a convenient method of finding current research on specific topics or questions.  Using an EBDM approach requires understanding new concepts and developing new skills.  These include knowledge of what constitutes the evidence and its hierarchy along with the abilities to formulate clinical questions, access available resources, and efficiently retrieve relevant evidence.  This process concludes with critically appraising the evidence, incorporating it into clinical decision-making, when appropriate, and evaluating the process.

The PICO Worksheet and Search Strategy form^© provides a framework for learning the needed skills related to building your PICO question, structuring your online search, and finding relevant evidence to answer your question.  Keep in mind there is more than one way to conduct an effective search depending on the number and specificity of terms used and the sequence in limiting results and combining terms using Boolean operators.  The procedures outlined here provide an introduction to the first two steps in the evidence-based process and a basic example of how to apply the key features of PubMed to obtain evidence to answer Mr.  Logan's question.  The remaining three steps, including critical appraisal, application, and evaluation will be the focus of the next article.

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Citation Number: Vol. 3, No. 3, Page 024