Hi Susan
You might like to talk to the information specialists at CADTH. I've just learnt that they teach a 3 hr session as part of a graduate-level course at the University of Ottawa Medical School on literature searching for SRs and HTAs which is geared towards researchers and clinicians. You could email one of the IPs there - email me privately if you would like to get in touch with them.
But I do agree - it is a difficult thing to teach because the teachers are always learning. I guess you could tell them that at the outset, show them previous searches you have done and ask them to dissect and critique them, show them a search with mistakes and get them to find them and tell you why the initial search would not work etc It takes time to learn these things. In a journal club recently, I pointed out to the students - and med tutors, that a Cochrane review had basic mistakes in the search strategy and so couldn't be used. How can you use a review when the foundations are bad? I am going to rerun that search and then correct it and run it again and compare results. I will be reporting to the journal club with my findings.
Thanks for asking this question Susan - it is something I have been thinking on and I'm sure lots of other IPs have too!
Regards, Catherine
Catherine Voutier
Clinical Librarian
Melbourne Health
email: [log in to unmask]
Chair, HTAi Information Resources Group
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