Secondary Sources - Reviews

The basic principles underlying the ‘evidence-based’ practice movement are that there is a hierarchy of evidence and that modern informatics can make the evidence available to practitioners at the point of care. Clinicians should seek evidence from as high in the appropriate hierarchy of evidence as possible. Some online search engines, such as SumSearch, search both primary literature (Medline) and some of the secondary literature before presenting the results in a hierarchical, ranked order.

Basically, reviews provide stronger evidence than single studies. In order of reliability, systematic reviews > evidence-based reviews > critically appraised topics > ‘expert’ reviews. This is discussed in more detail in the ‘EBR in Practice’ section of this website.