Background
The purpose of this Focused Search is to provide an illustrative example of a framework for constructing scalable search strategies using concept-based search blocks. The aim is to show you how to create knowledge assets, important and valuable to you and/or the organization you work for and store them in Ovid for use, subsequent development, sharing and re-use.
As with previous Focused Searches we shall use the following the research question and accompanying task.
Is acupuncture effective in the treatment of migraines? Find randomized controlled trials (RCTs).
For the purposes of searching, the requirements were divided up into 3 major concepts, represented by the search entry terms: migraines, acupuncture and randomized controlled trials. The diagram below which reflects the focused search, indicates how a thesaurus search was conducted for each concept and combined with a corresponding free term search to arrive at a full set of results for each concept. The final line (#10) brings the concepts together in an all concepts result set.
Saving the individual concept searches as search blocks in My Workspace, will enable you to test and develop them further without always having to run the entire search strategy each time. Additionally, the individual search blocks can also be run in sequence or in combinations of your choice.
Practice Suggestions
The Search Blocks for Downloading
Concept 1 – Migraine – Version 1
Concept 2 – Acupuncture – Version 1
Concept 3 – RCTs – Version 1
Full Search – All Concepts
Further Versions of the RCT Search Block for Downloading
Concept 3 – RCTs – Version 2 – Search Filter – SIGN
Concept 3 – RCTs – Version 3 – Search Filter – Cochrane
Search Stategy
exp Migraine Disorders/
(migraine$ or sick headache$ or status migrainosus).mp.
1 or 2
exp Acupuncture Therapy/
(acupuncture therap$ or acupuncture treatment$ or acupuncture analgesia or
ear acupuncture or electroacupuncture or meridian$ or acupuncture point$ or
moxibustion).mp.
4 or 5
Randomized Controlled Trial/
randomized controlled trial.mp.
7 or 8
3 and 6 and 9
Reviewers
Primary: Michael Fanning
Secondary: Charlotte Viken
Review Date: 2024-07-15
Expiry Date: 2025-07-15
Original search produced by:
Ovid Training Team
References:
How to build and share search strategies on Ovid® using concept searching
[Place on OvidGO! / Focused Searches portal]
OvidGO! / Skills Videos
What are Boolean Operators?
What is an adjacency operator?
What are wildcards?
Truncation of keywords
Phrase searching on Ovid
What is Ovid MEDLINE
Ovid MEDLINE segments explained
How to customize Ovid MEDLINE segments
How is indexing done in MEDLINE
Citation:
Ovid Customer Support, Concept Searching (Search Blocks) – Ovid MEDLINE, OvidGO! / Focused Searches, Version: 8th May 2024. Visited: < Insert Date >.