EvidenceUpdates - targeting what you need to see

We recently posted about our Knowledge Alerts service. EvidenceUpdates is a fantastic service that complements Knowledge Alerts by providing a simple means to receive highly targeted updates on clinical specialty areas. The service is operated by McMaster University in Canada (a leading centre in the development of Evidence-Based Clinical Practice) and brought to you free of charge by BMJ Publishing Group.




The content is built up from the citations of over 160 leading clinical journals. These are rated for quality, clinical relevance and interest by practicing physicians.



On registration you select the areas of interest for you choosing first the population group (Neonates, Pediatrics, Adolescents, Adults, Geriatrics or all) and then discipline (a broad range of specialties and sub specialties). You can choose to be alerted anywhere between daily and once a week.



Then comes the really interesting bit. Cut off scores (4-7) are available for both relevance and newsworthiness. Broadly items rated four on both scales are possibly relevant and useful but likely conforming to a widely known view. Items rated seven on both scales are definitely and highly relevant and Useful information not likely to be known unless you read the item. Clearly the higher the levels you set the fewer articles you will be notified about but helpfully the registration form shows how many articles would have been sent to you each month over the past year. You can tweak the levels until you reach a level you will be happy with.



Once you have signed up you can also search against the database using the relevance and newsworthiness scales.



Give it a try and let us know how you get on.

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