Pharmacy Literature Search Skills

Evidence summaries, systematic reviews, and guidelines are great starting points, but often you’ll need to search the primary literature:

• Many topics have not had evidence summaries written about them yet
• It takes time for new studies to be reflected in summary documents
• The general recommendations in summaries may not apply to your particular patient scenario

When looking for primary literature, it is a good idea to search databases, such as Medline, in order to find peer-reviewed, scholarly research articles.