NURS779 Synthesis & Translation of Evidence: Identifying High-Level Evidence

A helpful starting point is to identify any published systematic reviews or meta-analyses that are relevant to your topic since these will provide summaries of the existing literature. The following are some search strategies you can copy and paste into the search box along with your PICO search:

PubMed:

systematic[subset] OR "meta-analysis"[ti] OR "meta-analyses"[ti] OR "meta-analysis"[pt]

Embase:

(((systematic review:ti OR systematic literature review:ti OR systematic scoping review:ti OR systematic narrative review:ti OR systematic qualitative review:ti OR systematic evidence review:ti OR systematic quantitative review:ti OR systematic meta-review:ti OR systematic critical review:ti OR systematic mixed studies review:ti OR systematic mapping review:ti OR systematic cochrane review:ti OR systematic search and review:ti OR systematic integrative review:ti OR ‘meta-analysis’:ti OR ‘meta-analyses’:ti) NOT (protocol:ti OR protocols:ti)) OR 'systematic review'/exp OR 'meta analysis'/exp)

CINAHL: 

(PT "Systematic Review" OR PT "Meta analysis" OR TI ((systematic review OR systematic literature review OR systematic scoping review OR systematic narrative review OR systematic qualitative review OR systematic evidence review OR systematic quantitative review OR systematic meta-review OR systematic critical review OR systematic mixed studies review OR systematic mapping review OR systematic cochrane review OR systematic search and review OR systematic integrative review OR "meta-analysis" OR "meta-analyses" OR "meta analysis" OR "meta analyses" NOT (protocol OR protocols)))

PsycInfo:

TI ((systematic review OR systematic literature review OR systematic scoping review OR systematic narrative review OR systematic qualitative review OR systematic evidence review OR systematic quantitative review OR systematic meta-review OR systematic critical review OR systematic mixed studies review OR systematic mapping review OR systematic cochrane review OR systematic search and review OR systematic integrative review OR "meta-analysis" OR "meta-analyses" OR "meta analysis" OR "meta analyses" NOT (protocol OR protocols)))

RCT's may NOT work for your type of question (especially if there are ethical implications). If there are RCT's on your topic, try to locate those published since the latest systematic review or meta-analysis on your topic. Copy and paste the following RCT search strategies (from Cochrane) into your search box:

PubMed -- for drug interventions:

(randomized controlled trial[pt] OR controlled clinical trial[pt] OR randomized[tiab] OR placebo[tiab] OR drug therapy[sh] OR randomly[tiab] OR trial[tiab] OR groups[tiab] NOT (animals [mh] NOT humans [mh]))

PubMed -- for all other interventions:

(randomized controlled trial[pt] OR controlled clinical trial[pt] OR randomized[tiab] OR placebo[tiab] OR clinical trials as topic[mesh:noexp] OR randomly[tiab] OR trial[ti] NOT (animals[mh] NOT humans [mh]))

Embase:

('crossover procedure':de OR 'double-blind procedure':de OR 'randomized controlled trial':de OR  'single-blind procedure':de OR (random* OR  factorial* OR crossover* OR cross NEXT/1 over* OR placebo* OR doubl* NEAR/1 blind* OR singl* NEAR/1 blind* OR assign* OR allocat* OR volunteer*):de,ab,ti)

CINAHL:

(PT Randomized Controlled Trial OR TI(randomized OR randomised OR placebo OR “drug therapy” or random OR trial OR groups) OR AB(randomized OR randomised OR placebo OR “drug therapy” or random OR trial OR groups))

PsycINFO:

(TI(randomized OR randomised OR placebo OR “drug therapy” or random OR trial OR groups) OR AB(randomized OR randomised OR placebo OR “drug therapy” or random OR trial OR groups))