Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology
Volume 6, Issue 12 , Pages 1294-1300, December 2008

Knowledge Management: How to Keep up With the Literature

  • Diana L. Castillo

      Affiliations

    • Houston Center for Quality of Care & Utilization Studies, Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center and Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas
    • Gastrointestinal Outcomes in Geriatrics (GO-GERI) Unit, Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center and Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas
  • ,
  • Neena S. Abraham

      Affiliations

    • Houston Center for Quality of Care & Utilization Studies, Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center and Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas
    • Gastrointestinal Outcomes in Geriatrics (GO-GERI) Unit, Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center and Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas
    • Department of Gastroenterology, Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center and Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas
    • Corresponding Author InformationAddress requests for reprints to: Neena S. Abraham, MD, MSCE, Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center (152), 2002 Holcombe Blvd, Houston, TX 77030. fax: 713-748-7359

published online 05 November 2008.

With the increasing medical literature, staying current with medical information is becoming a major challenge for clinicians. To ensure best practice and treatment for patients, clinicians must access medical information, acquire new knowledge, and achieve information mastery in their field. Without a systematic approach to identify and critically appraise clinical research, they might become dependent on inappropriate or outdated information. In this review, we present a brief synopsis of the multitude of resources available to clinicians for knowledge management, our best-practice suggestions for selecting an evidence-based medicine resource, and a convenient overview and easily adaptable strategy to successfully identify relevant medical literature and evaluate its validity. For rapid retrieval, review, and synthesis of the medical literature, we recommend the systematic approach of retrieve, review, reject, and read. This strategy allows clinicians to more efficiently stay abreast of the medical literature and more effectively translate the best evidence from peer-reviewed publication to patient.

Abbreviations used in this paper: CI, confidence interval, MEDLINE, Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online, MeSH, Medical Subject Headings

 

 The authors disclose the following: Dr Abraham is supported by an American Gastroenterological Association Foundation-Sucampo-ASP Designated Research Award in Geriatric Gastroenterology and a Merit Review Award from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) (IIR 115-05).

PII: S1542-3565(08)00672-1

doi:10.1016/j.cgh.2008.06.019

Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology
Volume 6, Issue 12 , Pages 1294-1300, December 2008