Occupational Physician. Learning and Developing Occupational Health (LDOH) Foundation; emeritus professor in Occupational Health (The Netherlands). Leiden, Netherlands.
Occupational Physician. International Commission on Occupational Health (ICOH) Venezuelan National Secretary; Council of Scientific Advisors American College of Occupational & Environmental Medicine (ACOEM); Learning and Developing Occupational Health (LDOH) Foundation. Caracas, Venezuela.
Ann Glob Health. 2021 Jan 6;87(1):6. doi: 10.5334/aogh.3131.
Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) professionals must base their advice and interventions on evidence from science, in balance with their expertise, and with workers' and other stakeholders' values and preferences. Evidence-based professional practice is one of the remedies against misinformation creating confusion and distrust in the society.
To present, for OSH professionals, an overview and critical considerations about concepts, strategies, and tools needed for an accurate search for evidence-based information.
Information sources have been collected and discussed as a base for a documented vision on knowledge questions, online information sources, search engines, databases, and tools.
Every search should start with a carefully phrased question. To help finding a reliable answer, potential evidence-based online sources are presented. Systematic reviews and original scientific articles are regarded as primary sources. Secondary and tertiary sources are discussed, such as practice guidelines, point-of-care summaries, advisory reports, quality websites or apps, Wikipedia, quality videos, and e-lessons. To find sources, adequate use of search engines and databases is required. Examples are discussed briefly, such as PubMed/MEDLINE, Virtual Health Library, NICE, Cochrane Library, Cochrane Work, Google (Scholar), and YouTube.
Evidence-based practice in OSH must be stimulated, relying mainly on trusted online sources. The breadth of appropriate information sources is wider than described in most publications. Search engines facilitate the finding of quality reports, videos, e-courses, and websites. Such sources can be explored by well-trained professionals to complement the use of scientific articles, reviews, point-of-care summaries, and guidelines. Adequate use of online information sources requires awareness, motivation, and skills in professionals and educators. To date, the quality of skills in searching is low, thus a more adequate education is crucial. The quality of sources, search engines, and databases will be considered more thoroughly in another study. International collaboration is profitable and needs new drivers.
职业安全与健康（OSH）专业人员必须根据科学证据为其建议和干预措施提供依据，同时平衡其专业知识、工人和其他利益相关者的价值观和偏好。循证专业实践是消除社会上因错误信息而导致的混乱和不信任的补救措施之一。
为 OSH 专业人员提供循证信息搜索所需的概念、策略和工具的概述和批判性思考。
收集和讨论信息来源，作为针对知识问题的有文件记录的观点、在线信息来源、搜索引擎、数据库和工具的基础。
每次搜索都应从精心表述的问题开始。为了帮助找到可靠的答案，提出了潜在的循证在线资源。系统评价和原始科学文章被视为主要来源。讨论了二级和三级来源，如实践指南、即时护理摘要、咨询报告、质量网站或应用程序、维基百科、高质量视频和电子课程。为了找到来源，需要充分利用搜索引擎和数据库。简要讨论了一些示例，如 PubMed/MEDLINE、虚拟健康图书馆、NICE、Cochrane 图书馆、Cochrane Work、Google（Scholar）和 YouTube。
OSH 中的循证实践必须得到刺激，主要依赖于可信的在线资源。适当信息来源的范围比大多数出版物中描述的更广泛。搜索引擎有助于找到高质量的报告、视频、电子课程和网站。经过良好培训的专业人员可以探索这些来源，以补充使用科学文章、评论、即时护理摘要和指南。专业人员和教育工作者需要具备在线信息来源使用方面的意识、动力和技能。迄今为止，搜索技能的质量较低，因此需要进行更充分的教育。将在另一项研究中更详细地考虑来源、搜索引擎和数据库的质量。国际合作是有利可图的，需要新的动力。
