Real-time EBM: from bed board to keyboard and back

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Information Science
• Clinical Practice

Background:

• Physicians need efficient evidence retrieval for Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM).
• Internal Medicine (IM) residents often lack formal training in electronic database searching.
• Poor searching skills hinder EBM practice among residents.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and implement a database searching tutorial for IM residents.
• To evaluate the tutorial's impact on residents' skill and comfort with EBM resources.

Main Methods:

• A randomized controlled trial was conducted with second- and 3rd-year IM residents.
• Intervention group received up to six 1-hour small group sessions on database searching.
• Objective Structured Searching Evaluation (OSSE) assessed search success, time, and techniques; surveys measured comfort and frequency of use.

Main Results:

• Tutorial participants used more searching techniques and PubMed's Clinical Queries more frequently than controls.
• No significant difference was found in overall searching success or time per search.
• Intervention residents reported increased comfort with MEDLINE and the Cochrane Library.

Conclusions:

• An inpatient EBM searching tutorial enhanced residents' search techniques and comfort with key databases.
• The tutorial did not improve overall search success rates.
• Targeted training can improve specific aspects of EBM searching skills in residents.