It looks like you're using Internet Explorer 11 or older. This website works best with modern browsers such as the latest versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge. If you continue with this browser, you may see unexpected results.
The Hits and Misses of Resources in Medicine and Health Sciences: Hits & Misses
While Google is a great tool for finding restaurants and for planning your vacation, you might think twice before you treat patients with information from Google. Here's a tip sheet that shows the pros and cons of different resources.
Resource Comparison
Resource
Pros
Cons
Fast
Easy
Free
Good for finding information on topics about which there may not be many other articles
No two searches produce the same results
Can't sort results by date to see newest pages first
Google algorithm is a secret -- we don't know how pages are ranked
Web page authors can manipulate Google algorithm so that their pages are ranked higher
Ads and sponsored pages show up in results
Results mix trustworthy and biased content
Fast
Easy
Free
Shows times cited, citing papers
Advanced options available for searching by subject, authors or journals
Good for finding articles about specific instruments or questionnaires
No way to know what journals and articles are included
Doesn't include articles without abstracts
May not include the newest articles from PubMed
Can't sort results by date
No way to search using subject headings, clinical queries, study type or other limits
Fast
Easy
Free
Good source for background information when you don't know anything about a topic
Covers the "long tail"
Becoming less biased: seeks more references, hot topics, works to verify author credentials
The ability for anyone to edit most topics means that errors can get corrected quickly
The author of an entry is not easily determined
Generally not well referenced
Not peer reviewed
Articles not stable: content can change on an hourly basis
Hard to tell if an entry is evidence-based
Free
Connects to the full-text of original research easily
Sophisticated tools for searching, i.e., automatic mapping to subject headings, limits, clinical queries, filter tabs
Customization features allow you to save searches and citations, set filters, etc.
Explicitly states what journals are included
Multiple ways to do things can make it easy to find a way that works for you
Requires training for most efficient and effective use
Platform can be a bit unstable sometimes
Multiple ways to do things can make it complicated to remember how to do things
