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Table 2 CATs Evaluation Study. The accuracy and efficiency of ask MEDLINE and Entrez in retrieving an exact match to cited references in CATs' questions from the University of Michigan, Department of Pediatrics Evidence-Based Pediatrics Web site.

From: ask MEDLINE: a free-text, natural language query tool for MEDLINE/PubMed

Search Step

ask MEDLINE exact match retrieved/total questions (% total)

Entrez PubMed exact match retrieved/total questions (% total)

A. Match at first pass

18/28 (64.2)

1/28 (3.6)

B. Match after a related citation search

3/28 (10.7)

1/28 (3.6)

C. Match after question rephrase

4/28 (14.3)

2/28 (7.1)

Total exact match after A, B, and C

89.2%

14.3%

No match after A, B, and C, but relevant articles retrieved

2/28 (7.1)

0/28 (0)

Overall efficiency

96.3%

14.3%

Citations retrieved, but not matched or relevant

1/28 (3.6)

3/28 (10.7)

No citations retrieved

0/28 (0)

21/28 (75)

Overall retrieval failure

3.6%

85.7%