Solidify 6S

With your grounding in the purpose behind the 6S Pyramid, it’s time to dive in and explore the 6S Pyramid itself.

Mapping the Pyramid

With the most valuable research resource at the top, map the resources to the pyramid.

Now that you have a solid visual for the 6S Pyramid, ensure you understand how it impacts your search strategy. You will want to know what resources are included in each stage | level of the pyramid. Knowing what you need influences where you search.

Matching Levels with Recommended Resources

Systems

“Support clinical decision making through linking all relevant best research evidence about a clinical situation directly to a patient’s record” (Haynes, 2000).

Sources of Systems

• Integrative Electronic Patient Records

NOTE: We will not be using | searching Systems.

Summaries

“Summaries integrate best available evidence from lower layers… to provide a full range of evidence concerning management options for a given health problem” (Haynes, 2007).

Sources of Summaries

• Clinical Practice Guidelines
• Evidence-Based Texts

Synopses of Syntheses

Synopses condense and highlight the key points of a single study or systematic review and comment on their application to patient care. They are often written in the form of an abstract.

Sources of Synopses

• Centre for Reviews and Dissemination
• Evidence-Based Abstract Journals

Syntheses: Systematic Reviews

Consolidate literature on a specific topic:

• comprehensive identification of best studies
• review of study relevance
• evaluation of quality of research methodology
• extraction and analysis of data
• draw conclusions.

Sources of Syntheses

• The Cochrane Library at McMaster (Gold Standard)
  • Mohawk provides access to one of its important databases: Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews

Synopses of Single Studies