Your service's medical director would like to explore the idea of EMTs using special transport ventilators when caring for patients who require assistance with their breathing. Using the evidence-based medicine approach, which one of the following should you do first?

A) Go to a local hospital to see what kind of ventilators they use.
B) Contact vendors who sell ventilators and ask for price quotations.
C) Select specific EMTs to conduct a field trial of particular ventilators.
D) Search the medical literature for information related to this topic.

D