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Update and Expansion of an Interprofessional Education Search Strategy
Validation Study for NLM PubMed, Ovid MEDLINE, and Elsevier

Embase

Luke Barron, MSLSa, Sophie Nachman, MSIS, MPHb, Rebecca Carlson, MLSc

aClinical Librarian, Health Sciences Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,
Chapel Hill, North Carolina, https://www.orcid.org/0009-0006-5288-193X ,
Luke_Barron@unc.edu

bGraduate Assistant, Health Sciences Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,
Chapel Hill, North Carolina,https://www.orcid.org/0000-0002-9682-7357 ,
asnachman@outlook.com

cPharmacy Librarian, Health Sciences Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,
Chapel Hill, North Carolina, https://www.orcid.org/0000-0002-4380-8435 ,
rcarlson@unc.edu

Cite as: Barron L, Nachman S, and Carlson R. Update and Expansion of an Interprofessional
Education Search Strategy Validation Study for NLM PubMed, Ovid MEDLINE, and
Elsevier Embase. Hypothesis. 2025;37(2). doi:10.18060/28745

Barron, Nachman, Carlson. All works in Hypothesis are licensed under a
CC BY-NC 4.0 DEED Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International. Authors own copyright
of their articles appearing in Hypothesis. Readers may copy articles without permission of the
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copyright owner(s).

1

https://www.orcid.org/0009-0006-5288-193X
https://orcid.org/
mailto:Luke_Barron@unc.edu 
https://www.orcid.org/0000-0002-9682-7357
https://orcid.org/
mailto:asnachman@outlook.com
https://www.orcid.org/0000-0002-4380-8435
https://orcid.org/
mailto:rcarlson@unc.edu
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/


Peer Reviewed Article Hypothesis, Vol. 37, No. 2, 2025

Introduction
Interprofessional education (IPE) has grown exponentially since the seminal 2010 World
Health Organization framework1,2. To meet the ongoing needs of IPE scholars, an
interprofessional research team created and validated PubMed IPE search hedges3 using
relative recall methods4.

The authors developed a gold standard set from IPE systematic reviews, then created
candidate search hedges for PubMed. These were tested for total result count and relative
recall, or the percentage of relevant articles retrieved from the gold standard. Three hedges
were ultimately retained as recommended search options: a narrow phrase search, a title
search, and a broad keyword search; they achieved 75-95% relative recall. These offer search
options for librarians and researchers, from a narrow, focused search for quick retrieval of
useful publications to a broad, high-recall search for literature reviews3. However, they are
limited to PubMed searching.

Methods
This study extended the previous study by translating these PubMed searches for use in Ovid
MEDLINE and Elsevier Embase and repeating the validation process.

The PubMed gold standard set, composed of PubMed identification numbers (PMIDs), was
usable without modification in Ovid MEDLINE, but required adaptation for Embase via
conversion of PMIDs to Embase IDs followed by removal of duplicate entries. The previous
search syntax was manually translated from NLM PubMed to Ovid and Embase formats.

The team measured the translated search strategies against the gold standard set to record
their relative recall.

Results
The Ovid MEDLINE and Elsevier Embase translations of the search hedges were successfully
validated and all search strategies are presented in Table 1.

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Peer Reviewed Article Hypothesis, Vol. 37, No. 2, 2025

Table 1. Validated search strategies for each database platform.

Narrow phrase search
(PubMed)

(IPE[tiab] OR "interprofessional education"[Mesh] OR
"interprofessional education"[tw] OR "inter-professional
education"[tw] OR "interdisciplinary education"[tw] OR
"inter-disciplinary education"[tw] OR "multiprofessional
education"[tw] OR "multidisciplinary education"[tw] OR
"multi-professional education"[tw] OR "multi-disciplinary
education"[tw])

Narrow title search
(PubMed)

(interprofessional*[ti] OR inter-professional*[ti] OR
multiprofessional*[ti] OR multi-professional*[ti] OR
interdisciplinary[ti] OR inter-disciplinary[ti] OR
multidisciplinary[ti] OR multi-disciplinary[ti] OR
multioccupational[ti] OR interoccupational[ti] OR
inter-occupational[ti]) AND (student*[ti] OR
educat*[ti] OR learn*[ti] OR train*[ti] OR
teach*[ti] OR curricul*[ti] OR simulat*[ti] OR
school*[ti] OR course*[ti])

Broader keyword search
(PubMed)

(IPE[tiab] OR "interprofessional education"[Mesh])
OR ((interprofessional*[tiab] OR
inter-professional*[tiab] OR interdisciplinary[tiab]
OR inter-disciplinary[tiab] OR multidisciplinary[tiab]
OR "Interprofessional Relations" [Mesh]) AND
(student[tiab] OR students[tiab] OR educate[tiab] OR
educating[tiab] OR educator[tiab] OR educators[tiab]
OR education[tiab] OR instructor[tiab] OR
instructors[tiab] OR instruction[tiab] OR
teaching[tiab] OR training[tiab] OR trainee[tiab] OR
trainees[tiab] OR curriculum[tiab] OR curricula[tiab]
OR simulation[tiab] OR simulations[tiab] OR
shadowing[tiab] OR "clinical practicum*"[tiab] OR
"clinical placement*"[tiab] OR "experiential
learning"[tiab] OR teamwork[tiab] OR "Education,
Professional"[Mesh] OR "Clinical
Competence" [Mesh]))

Narrow phrase search
(Ovid MEDLINE)

"interprofessional education".mp. OR
"inter-professional education".mp. OR "interdisciplinary
education".mp. OR "inter-disciplinary education".mp.
OR "multiprofessional education".mp. OR
"multidisciplinary education".mp. OR "multi-professional
education".mp. OR "multi-disciplinary education".mp.)

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Peer Reviewed Article Hypothesis, Vol. 37, No. 2, 2025

Narrow title search
(Ovid MEDLINE)

(interprofessional*.ti. OR inter-professional*.ti. OR
multiprofessional*.ti. OR multi-professional*.ti. OR
interdisciplinary.ti. OR inter-disciplinary.ti. OR
multidisciplinary.ti. OR multi-disciplinary.ti. OR
multioccupational.ti. OR interoccupational.ti. OR
inter-occupational.ti.) AND (student*.ti. OR
educat*.ti. OR learn*.ti. OR train*.ti. OR teach*.ti.
OR curricul*.ti. OR simulat*.ti. OR school*.ti. OR
course*.ti.)

Broader keyword search
(Ovid MEDLINE)

(IPE.tw. OR exp "interprofessional education"/) OR
((interprofessional*.tw. OR inter-professional*.tw.
OR interdisciplinary.tw. OR inter-disciplinary.tw.
OR multidisciplinary.tw. OR exp "Interprofessional
Relations"/) AND (student.tw. OR students.tw. OR
educate.tw. OR educating.tw. OR educator.tw. OR
educators.tw. OR education.tw. OR instructor.tw.
OR instructors.tw. OR instruction.tw. OR teaching.tw.
OR training.tw. OR trainee.tw. OR trainees.tw. OR
curriculum.tw. OR curricula.tw. OR simulation.tw.
OR simulations.tw. OR shadowing.tw. OR "clinical
practicum*".tw. OR "clinical placement*".tw. OR
"experiential learning".tw. OR teamwork.tw. OR exp
"Education, Professional"/ OR exp "Clinical
Competence"/))

Narrow phrase search
(Elsevier Embase)

(IPE:ti,ab OR ’interprofessional education’/exp OR
’interprofessional education’:ti,ab,kw OR
’inter-professional education’:ti,ab,kw OR
’interdisciplinary education’:ti,ab,kw OR
’inter-disciplinary education’:ti,ab,kw OR
’multiprofessional education’:ti,ab,kw OR
’multidisciplinary education’:ti,ab,kw OR
’multi-professional education’:ti,ab,kw OR
’multi-disciplinary education’:ti,ab,kw)

Narrow title search
(Elsevier Embase)

(interprofessional*:ti OR inter-professional*:ti OR
multiprofessional*:ti OR multi-professional*:ti OR
interdisciplinary:ti OR inter-disciplinary:ti OR
multidisciplinary:ti OR multi-disciplinary:ti OR
multioccupational:ti OR interoccupational:ti OR
inter-occupational:ti) AND (student*:ti OR
educat*:ti OR learn*:ti OR train*:ti OR teach*:ti
OR curricul*:ti OR simulat*:ti OR school*:ti
OR course*:ti)

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Peer Reviewed Article Hypothesis, Vol. 37, No. 2, 2025

Broader keyword search
(Elsevier Embase)

(IPE:ti,ab OR ’interprofessional education’/exp)
OR ((interprofessional*:ti,ab OR
inter-professional*:ti,ab OR interdisciplinary:ti,ab
OR inter-disciplinary:ti,ab OR multidisciplinary:ti,ab)
AND (student:ti,ab OR students:ti,ab OR educate:ti,ab
OR educating:ti,ab OR educator:ti,ab OR
educators:ti,ab OR education:ti,ab OR instructor:ti,ab
OR instructors:ti,ab OR instruction:ti,ab OR
teaching:ti,ab OR training:ti,ab OR trainee:ti,ab OR
trainees:ti,ab OR curriculum:ti,ab OR curricula:ti,ab
OR simulation:ti,ab OR simulations:ti,ab OR
shadowing:ti,ab OR ‘clinical practicum*’:ti,ab OR
‘clinical placement*’:ti,ab OR ‘experiential
learning’:ti,ab OR teamwork:ti,ab OR ’vocational
education’/exp OR ’clinical competence’/exp))

The searches’ relative recall was almost identical across NLM PubMed, Ovid MEDLINE, and
Elsevier Embase (Table 2). The narrow phrase search achieved 73-74% relative recall, the
title search 85%, and the broad keyword search achieved 95-96% across all three databases.
The number of search results was also similar across databases; however, Embase had slightly
more results for each search. Since the results are so similar across platforms, the usage
recommendations from the original paper for the PubMed search hedges3 extend to the Ovid
and Embase searches also. Specifically, the narrow phrase search can be used for quick
retrieval of relevant articles. The narrow title search may be used for slightly more rigorous
searching and the broad keyword search achieves the recommended recall for comprehensive
or systematic literature reviews.

Table 2. Relative recall for each of the search strategies by database platform.

PubMed Ovid MEDLINE Elsevier Embase
Narrow phrase search 73.43% 73.43% 73.86%
Narrow title search 83.98% 83.98% 84.47%
Broader keyword search 96.48% 96.48% 95.45%

Implications
These search strategies provide IPE scholars with more data-driven options for finding
literature. Using these searches can help librarians and researchers feel more confident in the
comprehensiveness of their literature search strategies, with similar relative recall for each
available platform. This work also provides useful information for future search validations;
since translation across database platforms requires little extra investment, researchers can
easily develop hedges for multiple databases. These validated search hedges will help
scholars more easily and efficiently find IPE scholarship.

References
1. World Health Organization. Framework for action on interprofessional education &
collaborative practice [Internet]. [cited 2025 Sep 12]. Available from:

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Peer Reviewed Article Hypothesis, Vol. 37, No. 2, 2025

https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/framework-for-action-on-interprofessional-education-
collaborative-practice

2. Cadet T, Cusimano J, McKearney S, Honaker J, O’Neal C, Taheri R, et al. Describing the
evidence linking interprofessional education interventions to improving the delivery of safe
and effective patient care: a scoping review. Journal of Interprofessional Care [Internet]. 2024
May 3 [cited 2025 Sep 12];38(3):476–85. Available from:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13561820.2023.2283119

3. Carlson R, Nachman S, Zerden L, Mani N. Validation of an interprofessional education
search strategy in PubMed to optimize IPE literature searching. Journal of the Medical
Library Association [Internet]. 2024 Jan 11 [cited 2025 Sep 12];112(1):33–41. Available
from: http://jmla.pitt.edu/ojs/jmla/article/view/1742

4. Sampson M, Zhang L, Morrison A, Barrowman NJ, Clifford TJ, Platt RW, et al. An
alternative to the hand searching gold standard: validating methodological search filters using
relative recall. BMC Med Res Methodol [Internet]. 2006 Dec [cited 2025 Sep 12];6(1):33.
Available from:
https://bmcmedresmethodol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2288-6-33

6

https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/framework-for-action-on-interprofessional-education-collaborative-practice
https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/framework-for-action-on-interprofessional-education-collaborative-practice
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13561820.2023.2283119
http://jmla.pitt.edu/ojs/jmla/article/view/1742
https://bmcmedresmethodol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2288-6-33

