Learn why effective risk communication in public health matters and where you can get started in learning how to better communicate research evidence.
Learn more about the measures of central tendency (mean, mode, median) and how these need to be critically appraised when reading a paper.
Chris set up a student journal club in his first year of Physical Therapy training. In this blog, he describes how he started the club, how it has changed and expanded throughout his studies, and provides tips and suggested papers to get you started.
A brief introduction and tips for students embarking on a rapid review, when they should be used, and their advantages and limitations.
Yousif examines the HIP ATTACK trial, appraises the primary composite endpoint, verifies the assessment and then thinks of ways to interpret the result.
This blog presents the abstract of a literature review and critical appraisal on the topic of ‘paramedic decision-making to commence or withhold resuscitation attempts in the absence of a ‘Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (DNACPR) order’.
This blog presents the abstract of a literature review and critical appraisal on the topic of ‘effective management by paramedics when caring for patients requiring end of life decision-making’.
This blog presents the abstract of a literature review and critical appraisal on the topic of ‘prevalence of depression in emergency ambulance staff’.
Carrying out a systematic, unbiased, transparent and reliable literature search is vital in the first stages of your research. This blog provides tips and useful information on which resources can help guide you in this process.
This blog presents the abstract of a literature review and critical appraisal on the topic of pre-hospital antibiotics for patients with sepsis.
This blog presents the abstract of a literature review and critical appraisal on the topic of ‘Mental Health Considerations in Older Adults’.Â
This blog is a critical appraisal of the following pilot study: Intraexaminer comparison of applied kinesiology manual muscle testing of varying durations.
This blog is a critical appraisal of a randomized controlled trial assessing the effectiveness of land-based versus water-based rehabilitation following total knee replacement.
This blog is a critical appraisal of a randomized controlled trial assessing the effectiveness of individualized manual therapy, in addition to exercises, for treatment of shoulder impingement.
Sophia discusses a recent Cochrane review entitled ‘Inpatient versus outpatient care, partial hospitalisation and waiting list for people with eating disorders’ and considers the implications of the findings.
This blog is a critical appraisal of a randomized controlled trial, assessing the effectiveness of an early rehabilitation intervention to enhance recovery during hospital admission for an exacerbation of chronic respiratory disease.
This blog is a critical appraisal of a randomized controlled assessing hydrotherapy versus conventional land-based exercise for the management of patients with osteoarthritis of the knee.
This blog examines what heterogeneity is, why it matters, how you can identify and measure it and how you can then deal with it.
This blog is a critical appraisal of a randomized controlled trial examining the effectiveness of different exercises and stretching physiotherapy on pain and movement in patellofemoral pain syndrome.
This blog critically appraises a randomized controlled trial which compared spinal mobilization vs conventional physiotherapy in management of chronic low back pain due to disc degeneration.
This blog critically appraises a randomized controlled trial looking at the effectiveness of eccentric exercises in combination with PRP injections versus saline injection.
This blog is a critical appraisal of a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) comparing the effects of general exercise, motor control exercise and spinal manipulative therapy on function and perceived effect of intervention in patients with chronic back pain.
Critical appraisal tools (CATs) are commonly used by students and researchers alike, as a way of judging a study’s quality. In this blog, Dennis Neuen addresses the need to appraise these tools and has also collated a list of 12 CATs from all over the world.
Alina provides a critical appraisal of the ARTEMIDA trial (2015) that assessed efficacy of Actovegin in poststroke cognitive impairment.
This blog is a critical appraisal of a randomised controlled trial comparing a tailored exercise programme with a general exercise programme for individuals with low back pain and movement control impairment.
This blog is a critical appraisal of a systematic review exploring the benefits of early mobilisation following hip or knee replacement surgery.
This blog is a critical appraisal of a randomised control trial investigating the effects of bed exercises following a total hip replacement.
This is a critical analysis of a preliminary randomized control trial to determine if using the Nintendo Wii FitTM would be beneficial as part of the rehabilitation of strength, movement and function following a total knee replacement.
This blog takes a critical look at a randomised controlled trial which assessed the effectiveness of a physiotherapy-led exercise programme after total hip replacement.
This blog takes a critical look at whether a general or tailored exercise programme for a subgroup of individuals with lower back pain is more effective.
This blog takes a critical look at the use of acupuncture for carpal tunnel syndrome.
This study critically appraises an RCT, looking at whether Spinal Manipulative Therapy (SMT) is more effective in patients with chronic low back pain when it’s applied specifically or non-specifically to the back pain area.
Do patients who have experienced deep vein thrombosis (DVT) or pulmonary embolism (PE) have better outcomes when they receive bed rest OR when they get out of bed and engage in light activity (e.g. walking, standing or sitting) as soon as possible after treatment? (Also known as ‘early ambulation’)
This blog takes a critical look at a strength-based training programme for young people with Down Syndrome.
This blog takes a critical look at a study investigating whether more intense therapy following a neurological event (e.g. a stroke or traumatic brain injury) can lead to a reduction in length of stay in a rehabilitation unit.
Here are 34 key concepts that are crucial to understand to be able to critically appraise the claims that people make about treatments. And here are lots of resources that explain each key concept. Students, we need your help reviewing them!
You are sat down with an article or review. Now you want to critically appraise it. This blog features a checklist of 20 questions to allow you to do just that.
Confused about Hazard Ratios and their confidence intervals? This blog provides a handy tutorial.
This post talks about the real meaning of p-value. No fancy words. No complicated definitions. Only simple notions included.
Mechanical neck pain is prevalent in the general population. Adjusting the spine (spinal manipulative therapy) is complex and controversial, largely based on the Chiropractic concept of a joint “subluxation”. This blog is a critical appraisal of a study examining the acute effects of a single and multiple level thoracic manipulation on chronic mechanical neck pain.
We hear the word “evidence-based medicine” too often but why is evidence-based medicine important? And what’s the difference between eminence-based medicine? This post addresses those questions and give some examples of both evidence and eminence-based medicine practice.
Currently decisions made on treatment of bronchiectasis are based on guidelines which have a very poor evidence base. Read more to find out!
Know Your Chances: Understanding Health Statistics is one of the few easily digestible statistics books that teaches anyone the most basic principles and concepts how to question and see the reality behind health news, hype, claims and ads.
Katherine Stagg explores the impact of language bias and how the language of publications can affect our evidence base.
Deevia critically appraises the latest evidence!
Deevia takes a look at ‘effect modification’ and ‘confounding’ and explains the differences.
In search of a book with simple, comprehensible definitions and examples of clinical evidence? Do you want to take the first step in understanding common terms in clinical evidence as well as commonly used methods and their pitfalls? This review will inform you if this is the book you’re looking for.
Richard takes a look at Greenhalgh and colleagues, BMJ article “Evidence based medicine: a movement in crisis?”.
Is this your first contact with evidence-based healthcare? This course is a perfect start…
Casper takes a look at the IDEAL Collaboration and evidence-based surgery.
Danny has reviewed Testing Treatments Interactive, a website to help you understand more about fair tests and research.
Danny has reviewed the US Cochrane Center’s online course that aims to help you understand the basics of evidence-based healthcare and why it’s important.
Ammar takes a detailed look at CEBM’s evidence-based resources!
A critical appraisal of an article investigating the applicability of High Intensity Exercise Training Programs (HIT) on patients in residential care facilities who have moderate-severe physical and cognitive impairments and who are dependent in at least one activity of daily living (ADL).
GATE (Graphic Approach To Evidence Based Medicine) is a simplified diagram that is used to explain any quantitative study; from an RCT to a cohort.
How do you treat pelvic pain….
If you are new to EBM and methods such as critical appraisal, it can be daunting, but the CEBM tools are a useful introduction for beginners.
Cochrane Student’s Journal Club – An innovative introduction to the world of evidence based medicine.
TTextras is a feature of the Testing Treatments interactive website which provides open educational resources such as games, podcasts, and videos that help people understand more about fair tests of treatments.
Conducting trials where the trialled therapeutic must be commenced urgently raises specific practical and ethical problems. Here I discuss a recent New England Journal of Medicine paper looking at the use of intracranial pressure monitoring for severe traumatic brain injury as an example of how these issues may affect a trial’s utility and how this can be managed.
David takes a look at the evidence behind health news in the media. 20th June.
Want to find out how to evaluate a randomised controlled trial? This is the perfect resource for you, brought to you by CASP Tools.
Want to find out more about treating Chronic Fatigue Syndrome? Here, the PACE trial for CFS is evaluated using the CASP Tools for Randomised Controlled Trials.
David takes a look at the evidence behind the good, bad and ugly of medical news in the media. Week 2- 13th June 2013
Critical Appraisal Skills Program (CASP) provides many tools to help you read and appraise evidence. This tool will help you make sense of the information provided in any systematic review so you can conclude if that review is valid and reliable.
David takes a look at the evidence behind the good, bad and ugly of medical news in the media. Week 1-6th June 2013
Need something for your EBM task? Check out EBHC wiki!! You will find it there..
A must-have tutorial on how to critically appraise research.
Critical appraisal is the process of carefully and systematically examining research to judge its trustworthiness, value and relevance in a particular context (Amanda Burls 2009).
An essay discussing the underpinnings of EBM and the difficulties of using it in clinical practice
The QMP Medical Statistics tutorial that is designed to show you how to apply evidence-based medicine to clinical practice in a practical and logical manner.
This tutorial covers how to use appropriate statistical tests and what are confidence intervals and how do you use them.
CASPin provide many tools to help you systematically read evidence and this specific tool will help you make sense of any case control study and assess its validity in a quick and easy way.
A good website from the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine (CEBM) – with a wide range of tools to help with evidence-based research
A checklist to help you systematically appraise and understand diagnostic test studies.
PharmAware is a network of students committed to the use of the best evidence in healthcare.
This is a short, clearly written tutorial explaining the basic concepts of evidence-based medicine.
This resource is a tutorial, providing a thorough introduction to Evidence-Based Practice (EBP). It describes in detail how to formulate specific questions when searching for evidence on a problem, how to find this evidence using online databases, and how to evaluate and appraise the evidence found. It also outlines the economic modelling and cost-assessments behind healthcare choices.
The EBM Pyramid shows the various levels of information available in evidence-based medicine.
List of suggested, helpful resources from the team at CASP. Including: summaries, critical appraisals, meta-analyses, guidelines & databases.
This free course was designed for doctors and is successful in explaining the basics of evidence-based practice.
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