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CAPACITY Resource Guide

This guide was developed for the CAPACITY program through Emory University's School of Nursing.

Steps

Use the steps below to find an evidence-based answer to your clinical question.

Step 1. Compose Your Question

Clinical Problem: An adult male patient has hypertension - will reducing his salt intake alleviate this problem?

P Patient / Problem / Population Adult male with hypertension
I Intervention / Indicator / Exposure Reduced sodium intake / low salt diet
C Comparison / Alternative (if needed) No change in diet or salt intake
O Outcome Reduction in hypertension
     
T Type of Question Therapy
T Type of Study Systematic review and/or meta-analysis

Step 2. Create Your Search Strategy

Concept Search Terms
Adult Adult
Male Male
Hypertension (hypertension OR high blood pressure)
Salt (salt OR sodium chloride)

Join the concepts together with AND to create your search

adult AND male AND (hypertension OR high blood pressure) AND (salt OR sodium chloride)

Copy and paste the search terms above to run the search in PubMed.

Step 3: Decide What -Type- of Article to Look For

What type of question are you asking and which would be best to support the evidence?

Type of Question Type of Study/Methodology to Look at
Therapy

Double-Blind Randomized Controlled Trial; Systematic Review/Meta
Analysis of RCT
Diagnosis Controlled Trial; Systematic Review/Meta Analysis of
Controlled Trial
Harm Cohort studies
Prognosis Cohort Studies; Case control, case studies
Etiology Cohort studies
Prevention Randomized Controlled Trial; Cohort studies
Quality Improvement Randomized Controlled Trial
Quality of Life Qualitative Study
Cost Effectiveness Economic Evaluation
Clinical Exam Prospective, blind comparison to gold standard

Step 4: Select a Database to Search

These resources have pre-appraised summaries.