Finding Evidence - NRS 302 - Nursing Research - LibGuides at Aultman Health Sciences Library

What is Evidence?

So, what is evidence anyway? Evidence is the scientific literature (or studies) published in peer-reviewed journals. In evidence based-practice, clinical evidence is used to inform patient care to reach ideal outcomes.

You will need to understand the types of studies and the research processes they follow. Different types of studies have different strengths depending on the clinical question you are trying to answer.

You will also need to use your search strategy in an appropriate database. See some suggestions below.

Levels of Evidence

Rating System for the Hierarchy of Evidence/Levels of Evidence

Level I	Evidence for a systematic review or meta-analysis of all relevant randomized controlled trials (RCTs) or evidence-based clinical practice guidelines based on systematic reviews of RCTs.
Level II	Evidence obtained from at least one well-designed randomized controlled trial.
Level III	Evidence obtained from one well-designed controlled trials without randomization.
Level IV	Evidence from well-designed case-control and cohort studies.
Level V	Evidence from systematic reviews of descriptive or qualitative study.
Level VI	Evidence from single descriptive or qualitative study.
Level VII	Evidence from the opinion of authorities and/or reports of expert committees.

Table from Melnyk, Bernadette Mazurek and Ellen Fineout-Overholt. Evidence-based practice in nursing and healthcare. Philadelphia : Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2005:10.

Primary and Secondary Sources

The pyramids of evidence break down source types that you will encounter while searching for evidence. Each source type is appropriate for answering different clinical questions.

Primary sources:

Building blocks of a body of literature.
Include published individual reports, studies, and trials.

Secondary sources

"Filtered" sources of information.
These gather, synthesize, evaluate, and summarize primary sources.
Higher quality because it has been further analyzed.

This pyramid breaks down and defines the different types of primary sources (with secondary sources at the top).

“A Pyramid of Evidence” by New Literacies Alliance is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0.

This pyramid breaks down the different types of secondary sources.

"6S Pyramid" by McMaster University Health Sciences Library is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.

Nursing and Health Sciences Databases

If using a computer on the Aultman campus, choose the ON-SITE at NEOMED or any Associated Hospital link. Otherwise, choose the OFF-SITE link and log in. When prompted, select NEOMED or Northeast Ohio Medical University as your institution, enter your last name and your library ID.

Alt HealthWatch This link opens in a new window
Index, abstracts, and full text covering complementary, holistic and integrated approaches to health care and wellness.
Resources focused on the many perspectives of complementary, holistic and integrated approaches to health care and wellness. Alt Health Watch offers an immediate resource of full text articles, from more than 170 international, and often peer reviewed, reports, proceedings, association and consumer newsletters. In addition, there are hundreds of pamphlets, booklets, special reports, original research and book excerpts. Alt HealthWatch provides in-depth coverage across the full spectrum of subject areas covered by complementary and alternative medicine.
APA PsycINFO This link opens in a new window
PsycINFO is an electronic bibliographic database providing abstracts and citations to the scholarly literature in the psychological, social, behavioral, and health sciences. The database includes material of relevance to psychologists and professionals in related fields such as psychiatry, management, business, education, social science, neuroscience, law, medicine, and social work.
It is a resource devoted to peer-reviewed literature in behavioral science and mental health, and contains over 3 million citations and summaries dating as far back as the 1600s. Ninety-nine percent of its content is peer-reviewed. Included is information on the psychological aspects of related fields such as medicine, psychiatry, nursing, sociology, education, pharmacology, technology, linguistics, anthropology, business, law and others. Journal coverage, which spans from the 1800s to the present, includes international material selected from around 2,500 periodicals in dozens of languages
CINAHL Plus with Full Text (OhioLINK) This link opens in a new window
Index, abstracts, and full text of the literature of nursing and allied health.
Cochrane Library (College Students) This link opens in a new window
Free version available to students. A collection of databases containing high-quality, independent evidence to inform healthcare decision-making. Includes the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR), the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), and Cochrane Clinical Answers.
Cochrane Library (Personnel & Residents) This link opens in a new window
Provided by the Northeast Ohio Medical University. A collection of databases containing high-quality, independent evidence to inform healthcare decision-making. Includes the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR), the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), and Cochrane Clinical Answers.
Health Source: Consumer Edition This link opens in a new window
Information on many health topics including the medical sciences, food sciences and nutrition, childcare, sports medicine and general health.
Health Source: Consumer Edition is a rich collection of consumer health information. Health Source: Consumer Edition features searchable full text for nearly 300 consumer health periodicals, plus indexing and abstracts for over 300 periodicals. Also included is searchable full text for nearly 1,100 health-related pamphlets; 136 health reference books, including books published by the People's Medical Society, and more than 4,500 Clinical Reference Systems reports (in English and Spanish). In addition, this database includes Clinical Pharmacology, which provides access to up-to-date, concise and clinically relevant drug monographs for U.S. prescription drugs, herbal and nutritional supplements, over-the-counter products and new drugs. Health Source provides access to Merriam-Webster's Medical Desk Dictionary. This database covers topics such as AIDS, cancer, diabetes, drugs & alcohol, aging, fitness, nutrition & dietetics, children's health, women's health, etc. Many full text titles are available in native (searchable) PDF, or scanned-in-color. Full text information in this database dates as far back as 1985.

Information provided in this database should not be viewed as a means for self-diagnosis or a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.
Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition This link opens in a new window
Index, abstracts, and full text focusing on many medical disciplines, particularly nursing and allied health.
Health Source: Nursing/Academic provides nearly 550 scholarly full text journals, including nearly 450 peer-reviewed journals focusing on many medical disciplines. Also featured are abstracts and indexing for nearly 850 journals. Coverage of nursing and allied health is particularly strong. In addition, this database includes Clinical Pharmacology, which provides access to up-to-date, concise and clinically relevant drug monographs for U.S. prescription drugs, herbal and nutritional supplements, over-the-counter products and new drugs. Health Source provides access to Merriam-Webster's Medical Desk Dictionary. The majority of full text titles are available in native (searchable) PDF, or scanned-in-color. Full text information in this database dates as far back as 1975.
Natural & Alternative Treatments This link opens in a new window
Articles on complementary and alternative medicine.
Contains more than 700 evidence-based articles covering medical conditions, alternative therapies, herbs and supplements, functional foods, drug interactions, and homeopathy.
The articles contained in the database are based on double-blind, placebo-controlled studies and other forms of meaningful scientific evidence. At present, more than 12,000 such studies are cited in the material, and new studies are added regularly. The evidence-based content has been developed and reviewed by a team of physicians and pharmacologists with the goal of providing consumers with reliable information.

Information provided in this database should not be viewed as a means for self-diagnosis or a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.
ProQuest Nursing & Allied Health Database This link opens in a new window
Full text of over 850 nursing, allied health, consumer health, complementary & alternative medicine titles. Majority of citations from 1960-present.
PubMed This link opens in a new window
PubMed indexes articles in a broad range of preclinical and clinical disciplines. It is the version of MEDLINE that the National Library of Medicine makes available for free, and contains a collection of newer articles that are not yet indexed and included in other versions of MEDLINE.

This version connects directly to Aultman's collections.

Trip evidence
Trip is a clinical search engine designed to allow users to quickly and easily find and use high-quality research evidence to support their practice and/or care.