Full Description
Having an understanding of critical appraisal and evidence-based medicine is a prerequisite to being an effective clinician. However, critical appraisal is often taught by people not involved in day-to-day clinical care, meaning the clinical relevance is not always brought to the fore.
This book takes a different approach. It is written by clinicians, for clinicians. It takes the reader step by step through the process so that any journal article can be easily read, evidence evaluated and the results - and their reliability - truly understood. By integrating this with knowledge of local skills and resources and patient preference, the reader will be able to apply the best possible care that his or her patients deserve.
This accessible book is suitable for undergraduates and postgraduates of all medical specialties, nursing, paramedics, pharmacists and all allied health professions. It is the ideal reference for anyone needing help writing a clinical topic review, reviewing a paper in a journal club or preparing for a critical appraisal exam. But most importantly, it is essential for those who wish to practice medicine in the best possible way for their patients, using the best evidence, tailored to the individual.
Contents
About the authors
Foreword
Introduction
Section 1: Introduction to critical appraisal
Chapter 1: Types of papers and grades of evidence
Chapter 2: An approach to appraising papers
Section 2: Basic Statistics
Chapter 3: Types of Data and moving from samples to populations
Chapter 4: P values, confidence intervals and types of Error
Chapter 5: Basic Probability
Section 3: Appraising different types of papers
Chapter 6: Observational papers (Case series, case control, cohort, cross sectional, ecological)
Chapter 7: papers
Chapter 8: Therapeutic papers
Chapter 9a: Diagnostic papers / Chapter 9b: Screening papers
Chapter 10: Prognostic papers
Chapter 11: Economic Assessment Papers
Chapter 12: Meta-analysis
Section 4: Applying the knowledge
Chapter 13: Writing a clinical topic review
Chapter 14; Running a journal club
Chapter 15: Creating a 'best available' evidence based clinical environment
Section 5: Critical appraisal exams
Chapter 16: An approach to critical appraisal exams
Chapter 17: Practice papers
Glossary of terms
