Lamar Soutter Library - University of Massachusetts Medical School: Evidence-Based Medicine

Essential Resources for UMMS/UMMHC Users

Use this list as you would a ladder, working your way from the top down. Look for best evidence first in Cochrane Database and if you can't find something there, continue down the list, understanding that the farther down you travel, the weaker the evidence you will find.

Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews — A collection of structured systematic reviews and protocols (which are systematic reviews in process). Often include meta-analysis in the form of visual "forest plots."
DynaMed — Evidence-based clinical review summaries.
DARE (Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects) — Abstracts of non-Cochrane systematic reviews.
ACP Journal Club — Abstracts of articles containing strong evidence from within the primary literature.
U.S. Preventive Services Task Force — Database of evidence-based recommendations in areas of prevention and screening.
PubMed Clinical Queries — PubMed/MEDLINE search feature that filters results in order to display only articles backed by good evidence. NOTE: At the PubMed home page, choose Clinical Queries option from the blue, left navigation bar under "PubMed Services."
National Guideline Clearinghouse — Collection of guidelines from the federal government (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)) and professional medical societies.
Natural Standard — Graded evidence on complementary therapies.
eMedicine Clinical Knowledge Base — Background narratives, often with emphasis on best-evidence outcomes, covering topics across the medical and surgical spectrum.
UpToDate — Background narratives, often with emphasis on best-evidence with a special focus on internal medicine, family medicine, pediatrics and obstetrics and gynecology.