Evidence-Based Medicine in Surgical Practice - Locating Clinical Studies and Systematic Reviews by Searching the Medline Database

Background: Every day approximately 75 clinical trials and 11 systematic reviews are published in the health-care intervention and medical field. Due to this growing number of publications it is a challenge for every practicing clinician to keep track with the latest research. The implementation of new and effective diagnostic and therapeutic interventions into daily clinical routine may thus be delayed. Conversely, ineffective or even harmful interventions might still be in use. Decision-making in evidence-based medicine (EBM) requires consideration of the most recent high quality evidence. Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) are regarded as the "gold standard" to prove the efficacy of surgical interventions in patient-oriented research. Systematic reviews combine results from RCTs by summarising single RCTs which answer a particular clinical question. Some basic knowledge in systematic literature searching is required and helpful for detecting relevant publications. Material and Methods: This article shows various possibilities for locating clinical studies and systematic reviews in the database Medline on the basis of illustrative step-by-step instructions. Results and Conclusion. Depending on the aim and topic of the literature search, the time required for the task may vary. In routine practice, a systematic literature search is unrealistic in most cases. Clinicians in need of a quick update of current evidence on a certain clinical topic may make use of up-to-date systematic reviews. During a systematic literature search, different approaches and strategies might be necessary.