Development and testing of a medline search filter for identifying patient and public involvement in health research

Abstract

BackgroundResearch involving the public as partners often proves difficult to locate due to the variations in terms used to describe public involvement, and inability of medical databases to index this concept effectively.ObjectiveTo design a search filter to identify literature where patient and public involvement (PPI) was used in health research.MethodsA reference standard of 172 PPI papers was formed. The references were divided into a development set and a test set. Search terms were identified from common words, phrases and synonyms in the development set. These terms were combined as a search strategy for medline via OvidSP, which was then tested for sensitivity against the test set. The resultant search filter was then assessed for sensitivity, specificity and precision using a previously published systematic review.ResultsThe search filter was found to be highly sensitive 98.5% in initial testing. When tested against results generated by a ‘real‐life’ systematic review, the filter had a specificity of 81%. However, sensitivity dropped to 58%. Adjustments to the population group of terms increased the sensitivity to 73%.ConclusionThe PPI filter designed for medline via OvidSP could aid information specialists and researchers trying to find literature specific to PPI.

Topic search filters: a systematic scoping review

“… Clinical conditions (Damarell, Tieman, Olver, & Currow, ; Damarell, Tieman, Sladek, et al., ; Hayman & Tieman, ; Hildebrand et al., , ; Iansavichus et al., ; Jenuwine & Floyd, ; Li & Lu, ; Shaheem & Tieman, ; Wilczynski & Haynes, ) Clinical disciplines (Brown et al., ; Durão, Kredo, & Volmink, ; Garg et al., ; Gill, Roberts, Wang, & Heneghan, ; Iansavichus et al., ; Jenuwine & Floyd, ; Li & Lu, ; Olaussen, Semple, Oteir, Todd, & Williams, ; Pols, Bramer, Bindels, van de Laar, & Bohnen, ; Sladek, Tieman, Fazekas, Abernethy, & Currow, ; Van de Glind, van Munster, Spijker, Scholten, & Hooft, ) Clinical interventions (Haslinghuis‐Bajan et al., ; Iansavichus et al., ; Kirk, Damarell, Tieman, & Harvey, ; Lee, Iansavichus et al., ) Demography (Hooijmans, Tillema, Leenaars, & Ritskes‐Hoitinga, ; Kastner, Wilczynski, Walker‐Dilks, McKibbon, & Haynes, ; Leclercq, Leeflang, van Dalen, & Kremer, ; Moerman, Deurenberg, & Haafkens, ; Song, Simonsen, Wilson, & Jenkins, ; Stewart et al., ; Tieman, Lawrence, Damarell, Sladek, & Nikolof, ) Geography (Ayiku et al., ; Pienaar, Grobler, Busgeeth, Eisinga, & Siegfried, ; Valderas, Mendivil, Parada, Losada‐Yanez, & Alonso, ) Health care delivery issues (Hempel et al., ; Lokker et al., ; McKibbon et al., ; Mesgarpour, Muller, & Herkner, 2012a, 2012b; Simon, Hausner, Klaus, & Dunton, ; Tanon et al., ; Varela‐Lema, Punal‐Rioboo, Accion, Ruano‐Ravina, & Garcia, ; Wilczynski & Haynes, ) Non‐clinical patient and carer issues (Johnson, Tongbram, Ndirangu, Ogden, & Bay, ; Petrova, Sutcliffe, Fulford, & Dale, ; Rogers, Bethel, & Boddy, ; Selva et al., ; Tieman, Hayman, &a...…”

“…The earliest topic filters appeared in 2001 and were designed to retrieve literature on topics as diverse as gamma camera emission tomography using coincidence imaging and road safety interventions (Haslinghuis‐Bajan et al., ; Wentz et al., ). The four most recently published filters retrieve literature on the United Kingdom (Ayiku et al., ), paramedicine (Olaussen et al., ), patient and public involvement in health research (Rogers et al., ), and patients’ views and preferences (Selva et al., ). More than half of the topic search filters ( n = 32; 59%) were reported in or after 2012.…”

“…These definitions commonly focused on three aspects – what a filter comprises, its purpose, and the rigorous methodology underpinning its development – with the two most comprehensive definitions of the set covering all three (Ayiku et al., ; Petrova et al., ). Filter purpose is generally described as retrieving literature with some common feature (Ayiku et al., ; Damarell, Tieman, Olver, et al., ; Gill et al., ; Hildebrand et al., , ; Rogers et al., ; Stewart et al., ; Tanon et al., ; Tieman et al., ) within a specified database (Ayiku et al., ; Damarell, Tieman, Sladek, et al., ; Hayman & Tieman, ; Hildebrand et al., ; Li & Lu, ; Rogers et al., ; Stewart et al., ; Tanon et al., ; Tieman et al., ; Wilczynski & Haynes, ). Only three reports defined filters in terms of what they do not retrieve, as well as what they should retrieve, introducing the concept of specificity to search effectiveness (Ayiku et al., ; Rogers et al., ; Song et al., ).…”

Knowledge Management in healthcare libraries: the current picture

“…Dissemination of evidence, means of access and the effectiveness of that access are all explored in this quarter's issue of the Health Information and Libraries Journal.…”

“…The importance of facilitating access to examples of patient and public involvement (PPI) in health research provided the focus for Rogers et al . 's work . Acknowledging the variations in terms used to describe PPI, they developed and tested a MEDLINE search strategy to retrieve examples of health research using PPI.…”