ABSTRACT METHODS RESULTS Health Technology Assessment (HTA) studies rely greatly on a comprehensive search for relevant publication on specific subjects. When performing search strategies, it is hard to find the ideal balance between sensitivity and precision. Search strategy is defined as a technique to match a formulated question to relevant information in a database. In this context, the choice of the proper terminology to be used, whether natural or controlled language, will impact the effective retrieval of the specific information. Controlled language (or descriptors) refers to “a specified list of terms with a fixed and unalterable meaning, and from which a selection is made when cataloging, abstracting and indexing”, 1 such as Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms. The present study was conducted to analyze the search strategies, and the number of references they retrieved, of HTA works produced in 2013 and 2014 at a Health Maintenance Organization in Brazil (HMO, Unimed-BH). This was a qualitative analyses of the twenty nine HTA studies about oncologic drugs that were performed at the HMO in the years 2013 and 2014. The search strategies and the number of references of each study was manually collected and re-assessed and tested using Medline via Pubmed. The search strategies used in these studies resulted in 223 references, a mean of 7.6 references per study. Of all the 233 references: 75 (33%) had a main descriptor (controlled language) in the title; 191 (86%) were retrieved using natural language terms (applied to all fields), while 91% (203) had a main descriptor (controlled language) in the title or abstract. Including the strategies that had the trade name of the drug as a descriptor resulted in an increase of 0.7% (16) of references retrieved. FIGURE 1: Proportion of references retrieved by each search strategy, using: MeSH terms in the title; Free or natural language in all fields; MeSH terms in the title or abstract; MeSH terms or trade name of the drug in the title or abstract. CONCLUSION The use of different search strategies yielded different numbers of references. Therefore, it is clear that exhaustive search is important for the completeness of information retrieval. This requires specific abilities of a health librarian, who manages the common challenges of information retrieval in the vast medical literature. REFERENCES 1. US National Library of Medicine. Pubmed/MeSH. Vocabulary, controlled: definitions. 2015. Available from: <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/? term=controlled+vocabulary> 2. Rethlefsen ML, Murad MH, Livingston EH. Engaging medical librarians to improve the quality of review articles. JAMA. 2014;312(10):999-1000. doi:10.1001/jama.2014.9263. 3. Perrier L, Farrell A, Ayala a. P, et al. Effects of librarian-provided services in healthcare settings: a systematic review. J Am Med Informatics Assoc. 2014:1-7. doi:10.1136/amiajnl-2014-002825. MeSH + title Free or natural language MeSH + Title + abstracts MeSH + tradename 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% SEARCH STRATEGIES Search strategies Mariana R Fernandes, Silvana M B Kelles, Luíza O Rodrigues, Augusto C S Santos Júnior, Daniela C Azevedo, Lélia M A Carvalho, Maria da Glória C Horta, Sandra O S Avelar THE USE OF CONTROLLED AND NATURAL LANGUAGE IN HEALTH INFORMATION RETRIEVAL: THE LIBRARIAN PERSPECTIVE UNIMED BH

HTAi 2015 - The use of controlled and natural language in health information retrieval: The Librarian perspective

Download PPTX Report

Upload
rebratsoficial
View
24
Download
1

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

Page 1: HTAi 2015 - The use of controlled and natural language in health information retrieval: The Librarian perspective

ABSTRACT

METHODS

RESULTS

Health Technology Assessment (HTA) studies rely greatly on a comprehensive search for relevant publication on specific subjects. When performing search strategies, it is hard to find the ideal balance between sensitivity and precision. Search strategy is defined as a technique to match a formulated question to relevant information in a database. In this context, the choice of the proper terminology to be used, whether natural or controlled language, will impact the effective retrieval of the specific information. Controlled language (or descriptors) refers to “a specified list of terms with a fixed and unalterable meaning, and from which a selection is made when cataloging, abstracting and indexing”,1 such as Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms.The present study was conducted to analyze the search strategies, and the number of references they retrieved, of HTA works produced in 2013 and 2014 at a Health Maintenance Organization in Brazil (HMO, Unimed-BH).

This was a qualitative analyses of the twenty nine HTA studies about oncologic drugs that were performed at the HMO in the years 2013 and 2014. The search strategies and the number of references of each study was manually collected and re-assessed and tested using Medline via Pubmed.

The search strategies used in these studies resulted in 223 references, a mean of 7.6 references per study. Of all the 233 references: 75 (33%) had a main descriptor (controlled language) in the title; 191 (86%) were retrieved using natural language terms (applied to all fields), while 91% (203) had a main descriptor (controlled language) in the title or abstract. Including the strategies that had the trade name of the drug as a descriptor resulted in an increase of 0.7% (16) of references retrieved.

FIGURE 1: Proportion of references retrieved by each search strategy, using: MeSH terms in the title; Free or natural language in all fields; MeSH terms in the title or abstract; MeSH terms or trade name of the drug in the title or abstract.

CONCLUSIONThe use of different search strategies yielded different numbers of references. Therefore, it is clear that exhaustive search is important for the completeness of information retrieval. This requires specific abilities of a health librarian, who manages the common challenges of information retrieval in the vast medical literature.

REFERENCES1. US National Library of Medicine. Pubmed/MeSH. Vocabulary, controlled: definitions. 2015. Available from: <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/?term=controlled+vocabulary>2. Rethlefsen ML, Murad MH, Livingston EH. Engaging medical librarians to improve the quality of review articles. JAMA. 2014;312(10):999-1000. doi:10.1001/jama.2014.9263.3. Perrier L, Farrell A, Ayala a. P, et al. Effects of librarian-provided services in healthcare settings: a systematic review. J Am Med Informatics Assoc. 2014:1-7. doi:10.1136/amiajnl-2014-002825.4. Borba DD, Van Der Laan RH, Chini Br. Convergences and differences between natural language and terminology. Perspec. Cien Inf, 2012; 17(2):26-36.5. Tan MC, Maggio LA. Expert searcher, teacher, content manager, and patient advocate: an exploratory study of clinical librarian roles. J Med Libr Assoc. 2013;101(1):63-72. doi:10.3163/1536-5050.101.1.010.

MeSH + title Free or natural language

MeSH + Title + abstracts

MeSH + tradename0%

10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

SEARCH STRATEGIES

Search strategies

Mariana R Fernandes, Silvana M B Kelles, Luíza O Rodrigues, Augusto C S Santos Júnior, Daniela C Azevedo, Lélia M A Carvalho, Maria da Glória C Horta, Sandra O S Avelar

THE USE OF CONTROLLED AND NATURAL LANGUAGE IN HEALTH INFORMATION RETRIEVAL: THE LIBRARIAN PERSPECTIVE

UNIMED BH