The importance of conducting a comprehensive evaluation of existing literature is perhaps most evident in the planning stages of a clinical trial. Literature reviews can point out where knowledge gaps exist, generate hypotheses and prevent duplication of work already completed. Traditional literature reviews, commonly called narrative reviews, usually precede project planning. In addition to being valued by researchers as tools for summarizing the literature prior to conducting a clinical trial, systematic reviews are also invaluable to physicians, policy makers and consumers. As summaries of the best evidence for a medical intervention they serve as guides for medical decision-making.
Information includes the safety, efficacy and quality of the interventions being investigated.
One reason for the difficulty is that CAM literature is scattered among many information sources. A final challenge in gathering CAM literature is that multiple database searches must be conducted to acquire information on quality, safety and efficacy. The search engine, which is the method used to search the database, was designed to allow users with all levels of expertise to quickly search the database for the information they desire. Searches can also be conducted searching all indexed fields and all non-indexed fields. Searchers can combine up to eight terms using Boolean search terms to make searches more specific.