Exercise 2: Systematic Reviews

This exercise will use the Cochrane database to introduce you to the use of systematic reviews as a source of "evidence".

Instructions:

1. Read this scenario.  Imagine this is your situation after having attended this session and returned to your own practice Monday morning.
2. Write a well formulated clinical question using the PICO approach (Patient or problem, Intervention or exposure, Comparison, Outcome).
3. Open your browser and go to the online collection of the Cochrane abstracts at the URL http://www.update-software.com/abstracts/default2.htm

4. Enter the following terms into the search box

antihypertensive therapy diabetes

5. Change the radio button to "literal search"

6. This will return two citations.  We will use:

   "Antihypertensive therapy for preventing cardiovascular complications in people with diabetes mellitus
   [Review] Fuller, J; Stevens, LK; Chaturvedi, N; Holloway, JF"
   

7. You will find a link to fulltext by clicking on the reference link below (or simply click here Fuller email)

8. Open the "REFERENCE LINK" below labeled OVID EMAIL.  Scan the email and do the following:
   • Write a short list / description of the information contained in the full text version of the article as compared to the database.
   • Locate each of the essential pieces of information that you already found in the structured abstract.
9. List the short-comings of this "evidence" as it currently exists.  In doing so, you may include items described by the structured-review authors.
10. Name an on-going clinical trial that should produce "better evidence" or at least additional evidence in the future.

Reference Links:

Ovid email: full text of Fuller

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