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Occupational Therapy: Evidence-Based Practice: Construct a search strategy

Steps for Acquiring Evidence

  1. Identify a clinical problem
  2. Create a well-defined research question [using PICO]
  3. Translate PICO into a search strategy
    • Brainstorm and gather synonyms
    • Construct the search strategy
  4. Select most likely resources (databases)
  5. Tailor search strategy to database(s)
  6. Save search & export results to reference manager

Visual Queue for AND OR NOT Boolean Operators

Image from https://www.quora.com/What-makes-Boolean-Algebra-different-than-Binary-Code

Understand MeSH

  Direct Link to NCBI: PubMed video tutorial on searching with MeSH

Link to NCBI: PubMed text tutorial: Foundations of MeSH? 

More information about MeSH

Construct Search Strategies

Construct search by combining concepts with Boolean operators. Use keywords and subject terms in combination.

Boolean Logic Operators:

AND limits results, both concepts stoma AND bowel cancer
OR more results, either concept stoma OR colostomy
NOT excludes concept(s) from results java NOT coffee

Gather Synonyms

Think broadly and abstractly!

  • Terms with the same meaning
    • Hypertension/High blood pressure
  • Terms with alternate spellings
    • Leukemia/Leukaemia
  • Complex concepts described inconsistently
    • Long-term, patient-reported satisfaction…/Patients’ experiences with…
  • Umbrella terms and specific names
    • Sexually transmitted disease/genital warts, syphilis
  • Keywords and database-specific subject terms
    • Cancer, tumor/Neoplasm (MeSH)