PMID: 9172067Feb 1, 1997Paper

In search of controlled evidence for health care quality improvement

Journal of Medical Systems
E A BalasS A Boren

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to measure the efficiency of simple searches in retrieving controlled evidence about specific primary health care quality improvement interventions and their effects. Searches were conducted to retrieve evidence on seven interventions and seven effect variables. Specific words and the closest Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) recommended by professional librarians were used to search the MEDLINE database. Searches were restricted to the MeSH publication type "randomized controlled trial." Two reviewers independently judged retrieved citations for relevancy to the selected interventions and effects. In selecting MeSH terms, the average agreement among librarians was 64.3% (+/-26.1) for interventions and 57.1% (+/-19.9) for effects. Analysis of the 755 retrieved reports showed that MeSH term searches had an overall recall rate of 58% while the same rate for textword searches was significantly lower (11%, p < .001). The difference in overall precision rates was nonsignificant (26% versus 33%, p = .15). In the group of MeSH searches, overall precision and recall was significantly lower for effects than for interventions (12% versus 52%, p < .001 and 41% versus 69%, p < .001). Two textwords appeared in mo...Continue Reading

Citations

Mar 24, 2005·BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making·R Brian HaynesUNKNOWN Hedges Team
Sep 22, 2001·Journal for Healthcare Quality : Official Publication of the National Association for Healthcare Quality·K L Strom
Oct 23, 2002·Health Information and Libraries Journal·Ellen Crumley, Denise Koufogiannakis
Mar 1, 2011·Research Synthesis Methods·Paul Fehrmann, Joelle Thomas
Jan 11, 2007·Journal of Medical Internet Research·Monika KastnerBrian Haynes
Aug 3, 2011·Implementation Science : IS·Susanne HempelPaul G Shekelle
Sep 25, 2001·Annals of Surgical Oncology·A D BrooksD P Jaques
Sep 1, 2006·International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health·Frederieke SchaafsmaFrank van Dijk
Nov 4, 2000·Medical Decision Making : an International Journal of the Society for Medical Decision Making·I SimG D Rennels

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