Clinical Literature Search

A Claude skill that searches PubMed, Scholar Gateway, and national guideline websites for clinical evidence on a given topic, producing a structured evidence summary document and verified reference list.

What It Does

Provide a clinical topic and the skill will:

1. Parse and plan — derive MeSH terms, identify relevant guideline bodies
2. Search national guidelines (BTS, NICE, KDIGO, BSH, SIGN, etc.) via web search
3. Search published evidence using both PubMed (keyword/MeSH) and Scholar Gateway (semantic search)
4. Verify references — DOI spot-check, title-PMID consistency, no fabricated identifiers
5. Generate an evidence summary (.docx) with guidelines, recent evidence, and evidence gaps
6. Export references as YAML ledger, BibTeX (.bib), and PMID list (.txt) for Zotero import

Output Files

Each search produces five files:

File	Purpose
*_Evidence_Summary_*.md	Markdown source for the evidence summary
*_Evidence_Summary_*.docx	Formatted Word document (via pandoc)
*_References.yaml	Structured reference ledger (for protocol-reviewer)
*_References.bib	BibTeX file for Zotero/reference manager import
*_PMIDs.txt	PMID list for Zotero bulk import

Requirements

• Claude Desktop or another Claude client with MCP connector support
• Recommended model: Claude Opus 4.6 — the literature search, evidence appraisal, and reference integrity steps benefit from stronger reasoning capability
• The following MCP connectors enabled:
  • PubMed — literature search and article metadata
  • Scholar Gateway — semantic search across peer-reviewed literature
• pandoc — for markdown to .docx conversion
• The skill is designed for UK NHS context (references MHRA, NICE TAs, UK registries)

Optional MCP connectors (enhance coverage)

• bioRxiv — searches medRxiv/bioRxiv for preprints on rapidly evolving topics
• Clinical Trials — searches ClinicalTrials.gov for ongoing/completed trials to enrich the Evidence Gaps section

Installation

Option 1: Install from repository

1. Clone this repository:

   git clone https://github.com/Laszlo75/literature-search.git

2. In Claude Desktop, open Settings → Skills and add the path to the literature-search folder

After installation

1. Enable the required MCP connectors in Claude Desktop (Settings → Connectors):
   • PubMed — for literature search, article metadata, and full text retrieval
   • Scholar Gateway — for semantic search across peer-reviewed literature
2. Install pandoc: brew install pandoc (macOS) or sudo apt install pandoc (Linux)

Example Prompts

• "Search for evidence on CMV prophylaxis in solid organ transplant recipients"
• "What does the latest literature say about perioperative anticoagulation in DOAC patients?"
• "Literature search on rituximab dosing for ABO-incompatible kidney transplantation"

Integration with protocol-reviewer

The protocol-reviewer skill can consume this skill's YAML reference ledger for protocol reviews. You can either:

• Run literature-search first, then provide the YAML to protocol-reviewer
• Let protocol-reviewer auto-trigger a literature search — just upload a protocol and ask for a review

Related Skills

• protocol-reviewer — reviews clinical protocols against evidence (consumes this skill's YAML ledger)

AI Use & Governance (ISO 42001)

This tool uses AI-assisted evidence synthesis. AI outputs are advisory only and must be critically appraised by a clinician. The AI system is Claude (Anthropic), accessed via Claude Desktop with PubMed and Scholar Gateway integrations.

Every evidence summary is generated as a draft with a "DRAFT — NOT FOR CLINICAL USE" callout and transparency disclaimer. References are retrieved programmatically from PubMed and verified against source metadata.

See CLAUDE.md for the full AI use policy.

Trigger Phrases

The skill activates on phrases like: "literature search", "search PubMed", "find evidence on", "what does the latest evidence say about", "evidence review", "reference list for", or any request for clinical evidence on a specific topic.