How To Find Literature For A Medical Literature Review | Fast Clear Steps

What Counts As Strong Medical Literature

Not all sources carry the same weight. Aim for peer-reviewed studies, trusted syntheses, and official guidance. Skim the abstract, then scan methods and outcomes. Note study design, sample size, setting, and risk of bias. Preprints can help you spot trends, yet they need extra care. Blogs and crowd posts sit at the bottom of the ladder.

Think in three buckets. Primary studies generate data. Secondary works pull results across studies. Tertiary sources summarize for quick reading. When in doubt, trace claims back to the earliest reliable study you can find.

Finding Literature For A Medical Literature Review: Start Strong

Frame your question cleanly before you search. The PICO format helps: Patient or Problem, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome. Add time frame and setting if they matter. Write down inclusion and exclusion rules. List study designs you plan to keep. Set language and date ranges if needed, and note why you chose them.

Draft a short concept map. Place your core concepts in separate lines. Under each line, list synonyms, acronyms, spelling variants, and brand or class names. This sketch becomes your search string. Aim for recall early, then narrow later.

Pick your starting databases. PubMed is free and deep. The Cochrane Library hosts rigorous reviews. If you have access, Embase and CINAHL add reach in drugs and nursing. Add Google Scholar for quick scoping, yet confirm details inside publisher or index records.

Decide how you will store hits. A reference manager is handy, yet a clean spreadsheet works too. Plan columns for database, search string, date run, filters used, and notes. Create a column for screening status, decisions, and reasons for exclusion. Set a short naming plan for PDFs so you never lose track.

How To Search For Sources For A Medical Literature Review: Step-By-Step

Step 1: Choose Core Databases

Start with two or three. PubMed covers biomedical studies at scale and supports MeSH subject terms. The Cochrane Library lets you check if a high-quality review already exists. If one fits your topic, mine its search strings and study lists to speed your work, while still running your own search to catch new items.

Keep a log of each database you open, the time, and why you used it. Note coverage gaps. Some indexes lean toward certain journals or regions. Mix sources so you do not miss key studies.

Step 2: Build MeSH And Keyword Blocks

Use controlled terms for precision and free text for breadth. In PubMed, MeSH adds structure and links synonyms. Pair it with Title/Abstract words so new papers not yet indexed still appear. Combine synonyms with OR inside a block, then AND the blocks across concepts.

Example query in PubMed for aspirin after heart attack:

("Myocardial Infarction"[MeSH] OR "heart attack"[Title/Abstract]) AND ("Aspirin"[MeSH] OR aspirin[Title/Abstract]) AND (randomized controlled trial[Publication Type] OR trial[Title/Abstract])

Tune field tags as needed. Try truncation where allowed to catch word stems. Watch for British and American spellings. Add drug class names along with molecule names. For devices, include brand models and generic terms.

Step 3: Pilot, Then Tighten

Run a broad string. Skim the first three pages. Mark on-target hits. Adjust keywords, add missing synonyms, and prune noisy terms. Lock your first full run only after you see a steady stream of relevant studies.

Apply date, species, age group, and study design filters with care. Heavy filtering at the start can hide useful records. Save tight filters for a second pass after you understand the field.

Step 4: Chase Citations In Both Directions

Backward chasing means reading reference lists in key papers. Forward chasing means finding newer papers that cite them. Most databases offer a “cited by” link. This trick exposes clusters of studies that share methods or outcomes.

Step 5: Save, Export, And Set Alerts

Save searches inside each database account when possible. Export to RIS or BibTeX for your manager or sheet. Store full search strings with the exact run date. Create email alerts for new records so your review stays fresh while you screen and extract.

Screening And Selecting Studies Without Bias

Decide on a two-stage screen. Title and abstract first, full text next. Two people screening in parallel reduces mistakes. If you work solo, do a second pass on a sample a day later to catch drift. Record every keep or drop with a short reason tied to your rules.

Use a PRISMA-style flow to track counts: total records, after deduplication, screened, excluded, full texts assessed, full texts excluded with reasons, and final included. This gives readers a clear path from search to set. The PRISMA 2020 site provides checklists and diagram templates you can mirror.

Extracting, Appraising, And Synthesizing Evidence

Design a short extraction form before you read full texts. Typical fields include citation, country, setting, design, sample size, population traits, exposure or intervention, comparator, outcomes, time points, and main numbers. Add notes for funding source and reported limits.

Judge study quality with fit-for-purpose tools. Randomized trials call for sequence generation, concealment, blinding, and attrition checks. Observational studies call for selection and measurement checks. Keep judgments at the domain level, not a single score. Document the rule set you used.

Plan how you will group studies. You can group by design, population, exposure dose, or outcome type. If results align, extract the same effect measure. If designs vary, keep a narrative approach and state why pooling would mislead. Either way, make tables that allow quick scanning.

When numbers line up, a meta-analysis can help. Check heterogeneity first. Look for overlapping confidence intervals and similar methods. Record the model choice and show both pooled and study-level effects. Always run a leave-one-out test to see if one study drives the result.

Searching Beyond Databases

Grey sources can fill gaps. Trial registries can reveal unpublished or ongoing work. Conference abstracts and theses show emerging topics. Preprint servers carry early drafts. Use these to find leads, then seek peer-reviewed versions when they appear.

When you scan trial registries, capture the record ID, sponsor, status, and outcomes. Compare the registry plan to the journal report if one exists. Mismatches can hint at selective outcome reporting.

Staying Organized And Reproducible

Write down every search string you run, the database, the interface, and the date. Copy the exact filter set and limits used. Save exports with file names that include the database and date. Keep a change log so any reader could repeat your path and land on the same set of records.

Create a living folder tree. One folder holds raw exports. One holds deduplicated sets. One holds screened-in PDFs. One holds tables and figures. Keep your PRISMA flow file beside the screening sheet. Back up to cloud and local drives.

Before you finish, run one last update search from the end date of your first run to today. Screen the new records with the same rules. Add any late keepers to your tables and note the date of this update in your methods.

Trusted Places To Start Searching

Get to know PubMed’s help guides for field tags, phrase search, and MeSH details. They save time and cut noise. Bookmark the Cochrane Library for trusted reviews and protocols. For reporting, use the PRISMA 2020 checklists and flow templates so readers can see how you moved from question to evidence.