It is extremely important to know what it is you want to find before you start searching for an answer. One way to frame a question when searching for an answer  to a clinical problem is to use the PICO method. Try to identify each component, then design your question based on the PICO components. 

P - Patient/population/problem 

•    Ensure you are including anything that may be important here. Think about sex, age, race, condition/disease, etc. 

I - Intervention

•    This is what you are planning to do to/for your patient. Alternatively, it could be something your patient has been exposed, a risk behaviour, or a diagnositc test.

C - Comparison/control 

•    This is what you are comparing your intervention with. It could be a different drug, a placebo, nothing, a different exposure, a different risk behaviour, or a different diagnostic test.

O - Outcome 

•    This must be something measureable. It could be management of symptoms, adverse effects, a particular diagnosis, prevention or development of a disease/condition, or the occurrence of absence of a new condition. 

Integrating information from the lower levels of the hiearchy with individual patient records, systems represent the ideal source of evidence for clinical decision-making

Summaries are pre-appraised information about clinical topics. The topic has been searched, evaluated, critically appraised and compiled into one summary that often provides recommendations. Summaries are regularly updated to include the latest, most relevant evidence. Clinical Practice Guidelines are one type of Summary. 

Synopses of Syntheses normally state the clinical question being addressed by a synthesis (normally a systematic review) followed by a summary of the main findings and conclusions. Synopses will also normally include a commentary on the quality of the synthesis and the clinical applicability. 

Commonly referred to as a systematic review, a synthesis is a comprehensive summary of all the evidence surrounding a specific research question.

Synopses of Studies normally state the clinical question being addressed by a single study followed by a summary of the main findings and conclusions. Synopses will also normally include a commentary on the quality of the study and the clinical applicability.

Individual articles representing research conducted to answer specific clincial questions.

Critical Appraisal Worksheets 

Use a citation manager to store your citations and format your bibliographies.