What to use instead of NICE Evidence Search - some recommendations (sort of)

Amended a bit 13th June 2022 with more about Trip.

In an earlier post I searched NICE Evidence Search (site now closed) and then a number of other sources to see which other sources would find the same material.

I had found 27 results in NICE Evidence Search, searching vertigo epley.  

5 were systematic reviews from DARE, which I decided I was not too worried about, as DARE has not been updated for some time

Then there were results from PubMed, Cochrane, BestBets, Clinical Knowledge Summaries (CKS), four health organisations, Patient.info, NICE and the Royal Australian College of GPs.

Searching Cochrane itself found one more Cochrane review than NICE Evidence Search did.  So, more than NICE Evidence Search.

Searching PubMed itself and using the Systematic Review filter found 15 items (3 of which were versions of the same Cochrane review).  Again, more than NICE Evidence Search did.

The other sites were org.uk, except one health organisation (.org) and the RACGP (.org.au).

NICE is of course nice.org.uk.

Instead of NICE Evidence Search, I searched:

Google site:nhs.uk - this found many things not included in NICE Evidence Search, from the NHS nationally and from individual hospital trusts. 

Google site:.org - found material from American sites (not in NICE Evidence Search), plus one from cochrane.org (information about a review) and one from doi.org.

Google site:.org.uk - this found CKS and some of the health organisations, plus some other health organisations not in NICE Evidence Search. 

Google site:nice.org.uk - finds the two from CKS, but not the NICE guideline (which is actually a guideline on suspected neurological conditions rather than just vertigo).

The NICE website - finds the NICE guideline.

Trip - finds many results including both Cochrane reviews, CKS, one health organisation, plus the specific vertigo entry in the RACGP source (NICE Evidence Search linkeds to the whole resource).   It also finds guidelines, including a NICE one about benign paroxysmal positional  vertigo, and the NICE guideline on suspected neurological conditions.  And guidelines from other UK organisations (but not SIGN ones) and countries outside the UK.

Trip will also find some trials and primary research.  If you have Trip Pro (the NHS in England does), you will also find ongoing trials.

Pedro - finds 56 systematic reviews and trials.  Pedro is just physiotherapy, of course, so good for this topic.

So, now that NICE Evidence Search is gone, you may need to look in more places, or do more searches in one place, but you do find results that were not found in NICE Evidence Search.

Recommendations (sort of)

I think which places you look, so which sources you use, will depend on what you want and on the topic.

For systematic reviews and trials: PubMed, Cochrane, Trip, Pedro.

For guidelines: NICE (for their own guidelines), SIGN (for theirs), Trip.

For material from the NHS or health organisations: Google, specifying the domain.

For material from NICE: the NICE website, as well as Google.