Table 1

Strengths and weaknesses of electronic information resources

SourcePaymentStrengthsWeakness
PubMed “Clinical Queries”
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed/clinical.html 		FreeEasy access, useful filter of extraneous information, very comprehensiveNo quality filter, authors' abstracts
DAREFreeStructured independent abstracts, easy access, broad coverageDifficult for clinical practice
agatha.york.ac.uk/welcome.htm
Cochrane Collaboration
www.update-software.com/cochrane/cochrane-frame.html 		Subscription (access via many health information providers available free)Authoritative collection of information, quality assuredNarrow coverage, too detailed for clinical use
Best EvidenceSubscriptionQuality assured, clinical commentaries providedNarrow coverage, difficult to access
www.ovid.com/products/cip/ebmr.cfm
Clinical evidenceSubscriptionEasily readable, useful clinical summariesVery narrow coverage
www.evidence.org