BUSM Portal
Clinical Queries is a user-friendly search tool that allows clinicians to quickly and easily search for relevant clinical literature on etiology, prognosis, diagnosis and therapy of diseases and diagnostics. Clinical Queries is available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query/static/clinical.shtml.
From this page there are 2 EBM search options available:
- Search by Clinical Study Category
- Find Systematic Reviews
Search by Clinical Study Category
This specialized search query is intended for clinicians and has built-in search "filters" based on research done by R. Brian Haynes, M.D., Ph.D. at McMaster University in Canada.
Five study categories or filters are provided:
- Etiology - information addressing causation/harm in disease and diagnostics
- Diagnosis - information addressing disease diagnosis
- Prognosis - information addressing disease prognosis
- Clinical prediction guidelines - data addressing the likelihood of disease presence or absence
- Therapy - information addressing the treatment of disease
Two emphasis categories or filters are provided:
- narrow, specific search -- will get more precise, relevant citations but less retrieval
- broad, sensitive search -- includes relevant citations but probably some less relevant; will get more retrieval
Example: Find citations on having a rash with a fever using the defaults of therapy and narrow, specific search.
Find Systematic Reviews
- This feature is provided to help clinicians locate systematic reviews and similar articles.
- It retrieves systematic reviews, meta-analyses, reviews of clinical trials, evidence-based medicine, consensus development conferences, and guidelines. Citations from journals specializing in clinical review studies are also included.
Example: Find Systematic Reviews on inhalation therapy for pneumonia.
Tips and Hints for Searching Clinical Queries
- It is best to use specific subject terms. For example, if you want clinical studies on the treatment of cerebrovascular accident, type in cerebrovascular accident. Do not enter "stroke". Using the most specific term will help you retrieve the articles that best match your need.
- Grammar does not count. Syntax does not count. You do not need to capitalize your terms. Think of your terms as nouns.
- Do not enter abbreviations for diseases. Type in coronary artery disease, not CAD.
- If you want to search for synonymous terms, such as trigeminal neuralgia or tic doloreaux, capitalize the OR connector and type your terms this way:
- Trigeminal neuralgia OR tic doloreaux
- If you want to combine two discrete concepts capitalize the AND connector:
- Myocardial infarction AND Adrenergic beta-Antagonists
A Word of Caution: Once you see your article set, there is an option "related articles". By selecting that option, you eliminate the filters of the Clinical Study search (and any limitations that you've selected, such as language or year(s)). So, use "related articles" with caution; remember, your search is no longer evidence-based.
Information for this handout was gathered from the National Library of Medicine and The New York Academy of Medicine Library.