Essentially Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) concept should inform care plans for your patients. EBP refers to the interaction of three main domains:
These three domains need to be used to better inform the decision-making process for patient care.
Once you have developed a well-focused research question you need to either locate:
Use the map below to learn where to find information for background and foreground questions.
UpToDate database is a great database to locate useful background information.
Note that content in UpToDate database is written by medical experts based on critically appraised medical research. Information in this database can be used to find background and foreground information.
Other databases that you can use to find background information;
The Evidence-based healthcare pyramid represent different levels of evidence available in clinical decision making. Finding the best available evidence enables you to make the best decisions for your patient.
Start searching for foreground information at the top of the pyramid. Work your way down the pyramid if you are unable to find relevant information at a higher level in the hierarchy.
Clinical guidelines are systematically developed statements to assist health professional and client decisions about appropriate health care for specific circumstances.
They are used to translate evidence into actionable recommendations that can be applied to clinical situations. The below sources specifically include Australian guidelines.
The below sources include International guidelines.
These international databases include some guidelines, amongst other resources:
Before you search analyse your research question. Consider:
Find different word endings or spellings in databases by using:
Combine your keywords, using the connectors OR / AND, when searching.
ankle OR "lateral ankle OR "anterior talofibular ligament*" OR "tarsal bone*" OR bimalleolar OR trimalleolar OR bimalleolar OR "regio tarsalis" OR tarsus OR malleolus OR "distal tibiofibular joint*" OR "inferior tibiofibular joint*" OR tarsus OR "interior tibiofibular joint" OR "distal tibiofibular joint" AND sprain* OR strain* OR injur*
AND physiotherap* OR physical therap* OR rehabilitat* AND guideline* OR protocol* |
Example Medline search strategy:
Search for terms guideline? OR protocol? in the title only. See Medline search example above
You can search in Google to locate clinical practice guidelines.
You are able to do a comprehensive search in Google by combining your keywords using the connectors OR / AND.
Example:
("lateral ankle" OR "anterior talofibular ligament" OR “tarsal bone” OR “tarsal bones”) AND (sprain OR strain) AND (physiotherapy OR "physical therapy") AND (“clinical guidelines” OR “clinical guideline” OR “practice guideline” OR “practice guidelines” OR “clinical protocols” OR “clinical protocol”) |
Use these refinement options to get more relevant results:
Tools > All results dropdown arrow > verbatim |
Tools > Any time dropdown arrow > custom range |
Settings > search settings > Region settings |