Veterinary - Evidence-Based Veterinary Medicine

When general knowledge or a broad context of a subject is needed: 

• Use textbooks, reference books, clinical databases, practical guidelines, or review articles.

Textbooks are excellent resources for finding general clinical information. Written by experts in the field, they focus on specialized subjects.

Reference books provide an overview of a subject and are organized and formatted to access information quickly (i.e. dictionaries, encyclopedias, etc.)

Use the Catalog or Publication Finder (Electronic Resources) to search for these types of resources. 

Point-of-care tools are designed to provide quick access to summaries of peer-reviewed resources.

Use Vetlexicon database, Veterinary Information Network (VIN), or other point-of-care veterinary tools to aid in making evidence-based clinical decisions. For other point-of-care tools, see the Clinical Databases and Resources research guide.

 "The IOM (2011) defined clinical practice guidelines as 'statements that include recommendations intended to optimize patient care that are informed by a systematic review of evidence and an assessment of the benefits and harms of alternative care options.' Trustworthy guidelines should be based on a systematic evidence review, developed by a panel of multidisciplinary experts, provide a clear explanation of the logical relationships between alternative care options and health outcomes, and provide ratings of both the quality of evidence and the strength of the recommendations."

- NIH, About Systematic Evidence Reviews and Clinical Practice Guidelines

Use PubMed with the article types filter(s) Guidelines and/or Practice Guidelines or search other databases (including VIN) with practice guidelines as one of the search elements. 

Review articles provide a summary of what is known about a given a topic.

Use PubMed database with "Review" selected under the Article Type filter or search other databases (including VIN) with review as one of the search elements. 

To access access the Library's books, journals, or databases, please refer to our "Guide to Library Resources".