OTseeker helps library and allied health professionals to find quality evidence efficiently.
BACKGROUND
Research is essential for evidence-based practice yet many health professionals do not have enough time to find research. Studies relevant to occupational therapists can be particularly difficult to find. Most search engines are broad and return a large number of irrelevant articles. Occupational Therapy Systematic Evaluation of Evidence (OTseeker) is an occupational therapy database available at http://www.otseeker.com. Developed by Australian occupational therapists, the resource aims to increase access to research and support clinical decision making. This discipline-specific database contains pre-appraised information from a variety of sources and decreases the time required to locate best evidence.


OBJECTIVE
The aims of this paper are to: (i) describe how health librarians can use OTseeker to help allied health students, researchers and practitioners, particularly in occupational therapy, to find quality evidence; (ii) provide a teaching resource for health librarians based around the OTseeker evidence database; and (iii) highlight new features contained on the OTseeker database.


METHODS
A case study is provided which focuses on searching for evidence on the effectiveness of upper limb rehabilitation after stroke using OTseeker.


CONCLUSIONS
This paper may increase the knowledge, skills and competencies of health librarians, helping them to access evidence-based databases, and educate other professionals.
McCluskey
Annie
A
Faculty of Health Sciences, The University of Sydney, Lidcombe, NSW 1825, Australia.
Bennett
Sally
S
Hoffmann
Tammy
T
Tooth
Leigh
L
D000488:Allied Health Personnel; D019992:Databases as Topic; D055317:Evidence-Based Practice; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D009788:Occupational Therapy