Educational interventions to improve literature searching skills in the health sciences: a scoping review

Authors

  • Julian Hirt Institute of Applied Nursing Science, Department of Health, FHS St. Gallen, University of Applied Sciences, St. Gallen, Switzerland, and Medical Faculty, International Graduate Academy, Institute for Health and Nursing Science, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle (Saale) http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6589-3936
  • Thomas Nordhausen Medical Faculty, International Graduate Academy, Institute for Health and Nursing Science, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle (Saale)
  • Jasmin Meichlinger Institute of Applied Nursing Science, Department of Health, FHS St. Gallen, University of Applied Sciences, St. Gallen
  • Volker Braun Medical Faculty, Library of the University Hospital Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Mannheim
  • Adelheid Zeller Institute of Applied Nursing Science, Department of Health, FHS St. Gallen, University of Applied Sciences, St. Gallen
  • Gabriele Meyer Medical Faculty, International Graduate Academy, Institute for Health and Nursing Science, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle (Saale)

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2020.954

Keywords:

Evidence-Based Medicine, Literature Search, Scoping Review

Abstract

Objective: The authors reviewed educational interventions for improving literature searching skills in the health sciences.

Methods: We performed a scoping review of experimental and quasi-experimental studies published in English and German, irrespective of publication year. Targeted outcomes were objectively measurable literature searching skills (e.g., quality of search strategy, study retrieval, precision). The search methods consisted of searching databases (CINAHL, Embase, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Web of Science), tracking citations, free web searching, and contacting experts. Two reviewers performed screening and data extraction. To evaluate the completeness of reporting, the Template for Intervention Description and Replication (TIDieR) was applied.

Results: We included 6 controlled trials and 8 pre-post trials from the 8,484 references that we screened. Study participants were students in various health professions and physicians. The educational formats of the interventions varied. Outcomes clustered into 2 categories: (1) developing search strategies (e.g., identifying search concepts, selecting databases, applying Boolean operators) and (2) database searching skills (e.g., searching PubMed, MEDLINE, or CINAHL). In addition to baseline and post-intervention measurement, 5 studies reported follow-up. Almost all studies adequately described their intervention procedures and delivery but did not provide access to the educational material. The expertise of the intervention facilitators was described in only 3 studies.

Conclusions: The results showed a wide range of study populations, interventions, and outcomes. Studies often lacked information about educational material and facilitators’ expertise. Further research should focus on intervention effectiveness using controlled study designs and long-term follow-up. To ensure transparency, replication, and comparability, studies should rigorously describe their intervention.

 This article has been approved for the Medical Library Association’s Independent Reading Program.

References

Greenhalgh T. How to read a paper: the basics of evidence-based medicine and healthcare. 6th ed. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell; 2019. p. xix, 262.

Abbas Z, Raza S, Ejaz K. Systematic reviews and their role in evidence-informed health care. J Pak Med Assoc. 2008 Oct;58(10):561–7.

Albarqouni L, Hoffmann T, Straus S, Olsen NR, Young T, Ilic D, Shaneyfelt T, Haynes RB, Guyatt G, Glasziou P. Core competencies in evidence-based practice for health professionals: consensus statement based on a systematic review and delphi survey. JAMA Netw Open. 2018 Jun 1;1(2):e180281. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2018.0281.

Medical Library Association. Competencies for lifelong learning and professional success [Internet]. The Association; 2017 [cited 15 Mar 2020]. <https://www.mlanet.org/page/mla-competencies>.

McGowan J, Sampson M, Salzwedel DM, Cogo E, Foerster V, Lefebvre C. PRESS Peer Review of Electronic Search Strategies: 2015 guideline statement. J Clin Epidemiol. 2016 Jul;7540–6.

Sampson M, McGowan J. Errors in search strategies were identified by type and frequency. J Clin Epidemiol. 2006 Oct;59(10):1057–63. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclinepi.2006.01.007.

Salvador-Oliván JA, Marco-Cuenca G, Arquero-Avilés R. Errors in search strategies used in systematic reviews and their effects on information retrieval. J Med Libr Assoc. 2019 Apr;107(2):210–21. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2019.567.

Faggion CM, Huivin R, Aranda L, Pandis N, Alarcon M. The search and selection for primary studies in systematic reviews published in dental journals indexed in MEDLINE was not fully reproducible. J Clin Epidemiol. 2018 Jun;98:53–61. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclinepi.2018.02.011.

Hecht L, Buhse S, Meyer G. Effectiveness of training in evidence-based medicine skills for healthcare professionals: a systematic review. BMC Med Educ. 2016 Apr 4;16:103. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12909-016-0616-2.

Horsley T, Hyde C, Santesso N, Parkes J, Milne R, Stewart R. Teaching critical appraisal skills in healthcare settings. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2011 Nov 9;260(17):2537. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD001270.pub2.

Garg A, Turtle KM. Effectiveness of training health professionals in literature search skills using electronic health databases-a critical appraisal. Health Inf Libr J. 2003 Mar;20(1):33–41.

Arksey H, O’Malley L. Scoping studies: towards a methodological framework. Int J Soc. 2005;8(1):19–32. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1364557032000119616.

Munn Z, Peters MDJ, Stern C, Tufanaru C, McArthur A, Aromataris E. Systematic review or scoping review? guidance for authors when choosing between a systematic or scoping review approach. BMC Med Res Methodol. 2018 Nov 19;18(1):143. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12874-018-0611-x.

Grant MJ, Booth A. A typology of reviews: an analysis of 14 review types and associated methodologies. Health Inf Libr J. 2009 Jun;26(2):91–108.

Khalil H, Peters M, Godfrey CM, McInerney P, Soares CB, Parker D. An evidence-based approach to scoping reviews. Worldviews Evid Based Nurs. 2016 Apr;13(2):118–23. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/wvn.12144.

Holly C. Other types of reviews: rapid, scoping, integrated, and reviews of text. In: Holly C, Salmond SW, Saimbert MK, eds. Comprehensive systematic review for advanced nursing practice. New York, NY: Springer Publishing Company; 2016. p. 321–37.

Peters MDJ, Godfrey CM, Khalil H, McInerney P, Parker D, Soares CB. Guidance for conducting systematic scoping reviews. Int J Evid Based Healthc. 2015 Sep;13(3):141–6. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/XEB.0000000000000050.

Tricco AC, Lillie E, Zarin W, O’Brien KK, Colquhoun H, Levac D, Moher D, Peters MDJ, Horsley T, Weeks L, Hempel S, Akl EA, Chang C, McGowan J, Stewart L, Hartling L, Aldcroft A, Wilson MG, Garritty C, Lewin S, Godfrey CM, Macdonald MT, Langlois EV, Soares-Weiser K, Moriarty J, Clifford T, Tunçalp Ö, Straus SE. PRISMA extension for scoping reviews (PRISMA-ScR): checklist and explanation. Ann Intern Med. 2018 Oct 2;169(7):467–73. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7326/M18-0850.

Lai NM, Teng CL. Self-perceived competence correlates poorly with objectively measured competence in evidence based medicine among medical students. BMC Med Educ. 2011 May 28;1125. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1472-6920-11-25.

Li J, Burnham JF, Lemley T, Britton RM. Citation analysis: comparison of Web of Science®, Scopus™, SciFinder®, and Google Scholar. J Electron Resour Med Libr. 2010 Jul;7(3):196–217. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15424065.2010.505518.

Rodriguez RW. Comparison of indexing times among articles from medical, nursing, and pharmacy journals. Am J Health Syst Pharm. 2016 Apr 14;73(8):569–75. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2146/ajhp150319.

Hoffmann TC, Glasziou P, Boutron I, Milne R, Perera R, Moher D, Altman DG, Barbour V, MacDonald H, Johnston M, Lamb SE, Dixon-Woods M, McCulloch P, Wyatt JC, Chan AW, Michie S. Better reporting of interventions: template for intervention description and replication (TIDieR) checklist and guide. BMJ. 2014 Mar 7;348:g1687.

Erickson S, Warner ER. The impact of an individual tutorial session on MEDLINE use among obstetrics and gynaecology residents in an academic training programme: a randomized trial. Med Educ. 1998 May;32(3):269–73.

Hobbs DL, Guo R, Mickelsen W, Wertz CI. Assessment of library instruction to develop student information literacy skills. Radiol Technol. 2015 Jan–Feb;86(3):344–9.

Carlock D, Anderson J. Teaching and assessing the database searching skills of student nurses. Nurs Educ. 2007 Nov–Dec;32(6):251–5.

Gruppen LD, Rana GK, Arndt TS. A controlled comparison study of the efficacy of training medical students in evidence-based medicine literature searching skills. Acad Med. 2005 Oct;80(10):940–4.

Rosenfeld P, Salazar-Riera N, Vieira D. Piloting an information literacy program for staff nurses: lessons learned. Comput Inform Nurs. 2002 Nov–Dec;20(6):236–41.

Vogel EW, Block KR, Wallingford KT. Finding the evidence: teaching medical residents to search MEDLINE. J Med Libr Assoc. 2002 Jul;90(3):327–30.

Grant KL, Herrier RN, Armstrong EP. Teaching a systematic search strategy improves literature retrieval skills of pharmacy students. Am J Pharm Educ. 1996;60(3):281–6.

Bradigan PS, Mularski CA. End-user searching in a medical school curriculum: an evaluated modular approach. Bull Med Libr Assoc. 1989 Oct;77(4):348–56.

Sikora L, Fournier K, Rebner J. Exploring the impact of individualized research consultations using pre and posttesting in an academic library: a mixed methods study. Evid Based Libr Inf Pract. 2019;14(1):2–21. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18438/eblip29500.

Haynes RB, Johnston ME, McKibbon KA, Walker CJ, Willan AR. A program to enhance clinical use of MEDLINE. a randomized controlled trial. Online J Curr Clin Trials. 1993 May 11;doc no. 56.

Grant MJ, Brettle AJ. Developing and evaluating an interactive information skills tutorial. Health Inf Libr J. 2006 Jun;23(2):79–86.

Brettle A, Raynor M. Developing information literacy skills in pre-registration nurses: an experimental study of teaching methods. Nurse Educ Today. 2013 Feb;33(2):103–9.

Wallace MC, Shorten A, Crookes PA. Teaching information literacy skills: an evaluation. Nurse Educ Today. 2000 Aug;20(6):485–9.

Qureshi A, Bokhari SAH, Pirvani M, Dawani N. Understanding and practice of evidence based search strategy among postgraduate dental students: a preliminary study. J Evid Based Dent Pract. 2015 Jun;15(2):44–9.

Cooper C, Booth A, Varley-Campbell J, Britten N, Garside R. Defining the process to literature searching in systematic reviews: a literature review of guidance and supporting studies. BMC Med. Res. Methodol. 2018 Aug 14;18(1):85. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12874-018-0545-3.

Lefebvre C, Glanville J, Briscoe S, Littlewood A, Marshall C, Metzendorf MI, Noel-Storr A, Rader T, Shokraneh F, Thomas J, Wieland LS. Searching for and selecting studies. In: Higgins JPT, Thomas J, eds. Cochrane handbook for systematic reviews of interventions. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Online Library; 2019. p. 67–108.

Reed JG, Baxter PM. Using reference databases. In: Cooper H, Hedges LV, Valentine JC, eds. The handbook of research synthesis and meta-analysis. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation; 2009. p. 73–102.

Albarqouni L, Glasziou P, Hoffmann T. Completeness of the reporting of evidence-based practice educational interventions: a review. Med Educ. 2018 Feb;52(2):161–70. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/medu.13410.

Möhler R, Köpke S, Meyer G. Criteria for reporting the development and evaluation of complex interventions in healthcare: revised guideline (CReDECI 2). Trials. 2015 May 3;16:204.

Higgins JPT, Thomas J, eds. Cochrane handbook for systematic reviews of interventions. 2nd ed. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Online Library; 2019.

Aromataris E, Munn Z, eds. JBI reviewer’s manual: the Joanna Briggs Institute [Internet]. Adelaide, Australia: The Institute; 2017 [cited 21 Oct 2019]. <https://wiki.joannabriggs.org/display/MANUAL/>.

Aamodt M, Huurdeman H, Strømme H. Librarian co-authored systematic reviews are associated with lower risk of bias compared to systematic reviews with acknowledgement of librarians or no participation by librarians. Evid Based Libr Inf Pract. 2019;14(4):103–27. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18438/eblip29601.

Townsend WA, Anderson PF, Ginier EC, MacEachern MP, Saylor KM, Shipman BL, Smith JE. A competency framework for librarians involved in systematic reviews. J Med Libr Assoc. 2017 Jul;105(3):268–75. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2017.189.

Foster MJ, Halling TD, Pepper C. Systematic reviews training for librarians: planning, developing, and evaluating. J Eur Assoc Health Inf Libr. 2018;14(1):4–8.

Craig P, Dieppe P, Macintyre S, Michie S, Nazareth I, Petticrew M; Medical Research Council Guidance. Developing and evaluating complex interventions: the new Medical Research Council guidance. BMJ. 2008 Sep 29;337:a1655.

Just ML. Is literature search training for medical students and residents effective? a literature review. J Med Libr Assoc. 2012 Oct;100(4):270–6. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3163/1536-5050.100.4.008.

Booth A, O’Rourke AJ, Ford NJ. Structuring the pre-search reference interview: a useful technique for handling clinical questions. Bull Med Libr Assoc. 2000 Jul;88(3):239–46.

Jenkins M. Evaluation of methodological search filters - a review. Health Inf Libr J. 2004 Sep;21(3):148–63.

Damarell RA, May N, Hammond S, Sladek RM, Tieman JJ. Topic search filters: a systematic scoping review. Health Inf Libr J. 2019 Mar;36(1):4–40. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/hir.12244.

Hausner E, Guddat C, Hermanns T, Lampert U, Waffenschmidt S. Prospective comparison of search strategies for systematic reviews: an objective approach yielded higher sensitivity than a conceptual one. J Clin Epidemiol. 2016 Sep;77:118–24. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclinepi.2016.05.002.

Cooper C, Varley-Campbell J, Booth A, Britten N, Garside R. Systematic review identifies six metrics and one method for assessing literature search effectiveness but no consensus on appropriate use. J Clin Epidemiol. 2018 Jul;99:53–63. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclinepi.2018.02.025.

Rana GK, Bradley DR, Hamstra SJ, Ross PT, Schumacher RE, Frohna JG, Haftel HM, Lypson ML. A validated search assessment tool: assessing practice-based learning and improvement in a residency program. J Med Libr Assoc. 2011 Jan;99(1):77–81. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3163/1536-5050.99.1.013.

Bramer WM, de Jonge GB, Rethlefsen ML, Mast F, Kleijnen J. A systematic approach to searching: an efficient and complete method to develop literature searches. J Med Libr Assoc. 2018 Oct;106(4):531–41. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2018.283.

Cooper C, Booth A, Britten N, Garside R. A comparison of results of empirical studies of supplementary search techniques and recommendations in review methodology handbooks: a methodological review. Syst Rev. 2017 Nov 28;6(1):234. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13643-017-0625-1.

Altman DG, Simera I. Using reporting guidelines effectively to ensure good reporting of health research. In: Moher D, Altman DG, Schulz KF, Simera I, Wager E, eds. Guidelines for reporting health research: a user’s manual. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons; 2014. p. 32–40.

Downloads

Published

2020-10-01

Issue

Section

Knowledge Synthesis