EBM Pyramid and EBM Page Generator, copyright 2006 Trustees of Dartmouth College and Yale University. All Rights Reserved. Produced by Jan Glover, David Izzo, Karen Odato and Lei Wang. Other variations of the Evidence-Based Medicine Pyramid exist.
Acquiring the evidence can be one of the trickiest parts of the EBP process. It requires knowing what kind of evidence you need, knowing where to find that type of evidence, and having a good knowledge of search techniques and databases to successfully find the literature that matches your clinical question.
While the evidence pyramid above outlines generally accepted tiers of evidence, with vetted and synthesized information preferred and single studies considered to be less effective evidence, remember that different clinical questions may require different types of evidence, even if those types of evidence are lower on the evidence pyramid. See the Study Designs and Types page for more information.
For more information on searching for evidence, check out the subpages in the left-hand navigation menu, and don't hesitate to reach out to a librarian for help with this crucial step.