Use Discovery - input your topic or the details of a journal article to search across most of the Library's resources
They are:
Evidence Based Practice is about using the best available evidence on the effectiveness of healthcare interventions as a basis for professional decision making in practice. The evidence from the research should be used in conjunction with clinician expertise and patient choice.
Evidence comes in various forms, some more reliable than others, so it is important that clinical practice is based on the most dependable. In order of decreasing scientific validity they are:
A systematic review assesses the effectiveness of a healthcare intervention on a disease or illness by providing a scientific method of assessing research evidence.
Systematic Reviews take great care to find and locate all relevant research studies on a particular intervention. Rigorous methods are used to limit bias in identifying or rejecting studies to be included in the Review. Each study is assessed and the results of the individual studies are synthesised in an unbiased way and an impartial summary of the findings is presented.
To find the research efficiently, the first step is to ask a well-designed clinical question based on the PICO, PIO or PEO formula.
| PICO (Quantitative) | PIO (Quantitative) | PEO (Qualitative) |
| P - Patient or Problem | P - Patient or Problem | P - Patient or Problem |
| I - Intervention (drugs treatment or therapy) | I - Intervention (drugs treatment or therapy) | E - Exposure |
|
C - Comparison between the Interventions (control and experiment) (optional - if there is no comparison use PIO) |
O - Outcome - the results of the trials | O - Outcomes (Themes) |
| O - Outcome - the results of the trials |
This formula provides a framework for you search strategy. The workbook below shows you how to develop a question based on PICO, PIO or PEO and how to search the literature effectively.
In addition to the specialist subject databases listed under Databases for your subject in your subject LibGuide you may find the following databases useful for evidence based research:
We offer a tutorial service to help with searching the specialist databases on your topic. 
To request a tutorial with a Health Librarian please click on the booking button below:
Please note:
1. Tutorials can be booked 2 weeks in advance.
2. The tutorials are for 1 hour.
3. Tutorials are offered via Microsoft Teams, email or telephone.
4. If there is no convenient booking slot available please email libraryhelp@tees.ac.uk as we may be able to see you another time.
Please note:
For help with academic skills see the Learning Advisors for Literacy tutorials https://libguides.tees.ac.uk/tutorials/literature
The following guides will help you to develop your skills in finding journal articles:
The following guides will help you to develop your skills in searching the literature for evidence based practice
Grey literature is material which is not usually published through normal channels. Examples of grey literature include: government reports, theses, conference papers and abstracts, discussion papers, newsletters, PowerPoint presentations, best practice documents, guidelines and protocols.
The helpsheet below details the best sources to use to find grey literature in the area of health and social care.
Public Health England have also compiled an index of grey literature and the link to this is below.
Have you found a useful resource that we do not have access to? Undergraduate students doing their final assessment projects/dissertations, postgraduate students and staff are eligible for inter library loans. See the Inter Library Loan LibGuide for more information.
