The work in HIRU

 
Hand searching of the medical literature

Research associates from the evidence-based journals (ACP Journal Club, Evidence-Based Medicine, and Evidence-Based Nursing) group in HIRU (Health Information Research Unit) hand search the medical literature weekly. Over 100 journals are reviewed (see the list of reviewed journals). Each article in each issue is reviewed to see whether it passes methodologic criteria for therapy, diagnosis, prognosis, etiology, quality improvement, economics, or clinical prediction. Each week we collect a large group of high-quality articles, some of which have not been indexed in bibliographic databases. Clinicians, both generalists and specialists, will rate these articles for clinical relevance and newsworthiness.

Citations for current PIER topics

A database of rated articles will be searched on a weekly basis for citations relevant to PIER topics. These references will be sent to the author or editorial consultant as they are found, which will be quite soon after they are published. Until the database is established, we will rely on the articles that have been abstracted and B-listed in the evidence-based journals.

Citations for new PIER topics

In addition to preparing content for EB journals, HIRU has done research for the National Library Medicine on validated search strategies for finding high-quality articles on therapy, diagnosis, prognosis, etiology, quality improvement, and clinical prediction. Using these strategies, HIRU will do foundation searches for authors recruited for new PIER topics.