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Research Guides

Pharmacy eResources: EBM Resources

EBM Resources Pyramid

Featured Databases

This is a sample of the hundreds of books and journals at U of T on evidence-based medicine.

To search for more, go to the Library Catalogue (below) and type in evidence-based medicine and choose Subject from the drop down menu.

OR, enter words from the title or the name of the author and choose one of those options from the drop-down menu

Featured Journals

EBM Resources Chart

Category Type of Research Resource Examples
Summaries & Guidelines Clinical practice guidelines and point-of-care tools that provide evidence-based information on a topic of interest.  
Pre-Appraised / Pre-Processed Literature Includes systematic and scoping reviews, and other knowledge syntheses. 
Non-Preappraised Literature Primary studies that have not been pre-appraised (e.g. case reports, research articles, RCTs, observational, cohort, and cross-control studies).

Summaries & Guidelines

DynaMed 

  • DynaMed is a clinical decision support system that provides with evidence-based information for quick answers at the point of care. Access the tab "Drugs A-Z" to access comprehensive information powered by MicroMedex. 

UpToDate 

  • UpToDate is an evidence-based clinical information resource that provides the information in an encyclopedic format with references to clinical trials.

BMJ Best Practice 

  • Published by BMJ, Clinical Evidence is an international source of the best evidence for effective health care. Updated regularly, it contains information about more than 200 medical conditions and over 2000 treatments.

CPS (RxTx) 

  • Access information on drugs and conditions, resources, and more provided by the Canadian Pharmacists Association.

Lexicomp 

  • Comprehensive source of drug information including interaction analysis, and patient-level drug leaflets. Allows searching under Canadian brand name of drug.

Micromedex 

  • Source for summaries of drug information including drug interactions and alternative medicine; also disease information. Clinical checklists under disease provide recommendations based on the strength of evidence.

Natural Medicine  

  • Founded by clinicians and researchers to provide evidence-based information about complementary and alternative therapies. Several different databases provide evidence-based information according to medical condition, food/herb/supplement, brand name, and more.

Pre-Appraised / Pre-Processed Literature

  • Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality EPC Evidence-Based Reports 

    • The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) provides Evidence-based Practice Center reports (EPCs) aiming to develop and assist public and private sector organizations to improve healthcare quality in the United States. These comprehensive EPC reports cover a wide spectrum of clinical and health services, including pharmacological topics and evidence-based information. 

  • Cochrane Library 

    • Updated quarterly, it includes The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (complete reviews as well as protocols of reviews in progress), Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effectiveness (citations to other systematic reviews produced outside of the Cochrane Collaboration), The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and The Cochrane Database of Methodology Reviews (a bibliography of articles on the science of research synthesis), Health Technology Assessment, and NHS Economic Evauation Database. 
  • Epistemonikos 

    • Epistemonikos is a multilingual health evidence database consisting largely of systematic reviews that are used for health decision-making based on scientific medicine. It regularly screens 10 databases and other sources to find relevant systematic reviews, but is not a comprehensive database as the identification of other types of evidence has not been completed yet. 

Non-Preappraised Literature

  • Ovid Medline 

    • MEDLINE provides access to literature across 5,600 biomedicine and life sciences journals and is one of the leading databases for health sciences literature and research. 

  • Pharmaceutical Abstracts  

    • Produced by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, Pharmaceutical Abstracts includes clinical and technical drug information, pharmacy practice, and pharmaceutical information. 

  • PubMed Clinical Queries  

    • The specialized search provided by this service has built-in search filters based on the findings of R.B. Haynes, et al. at McMaster University. Searches can be limited to articles on therapy, diagnosis, etiology, or prognosis, and can emphasize sensitivity or specificity. In addition, clinicians can search for systematic reviews, meta-analyses, reviews of clinical trials, evidence based medicine, and more. There is also a specialized search function to find citations and abstracts related to various topics in medical genetics.
  • TRIP 

    • The TRIP database began in 1997 with a purpose to allow health professionals to easily find the highest-quality material available on the web to help support evidence based practice. TRIP searches a wealth of online evidence resources simultaneously and links directly to results, saving time. Results are filtered and displayed by categories such as Evidence Based Synopsis, Clinical Questions, Systematic Review or MEDLINE articles.Photographic quality Medical Images and Patient Information brochures are available through TRIP.

EBM Research Guides

Best Resources for Evidence Based Medicine

  • Visit this guide for an explanation of the EBM Resources Pyramid and Most and Less "Distilled" EBM Resources.

Systematic reviews: tips for literature searches