EBM Guidebook

Table of Contents

Title Page

1. Introduction
2. STEP 1: Formulating the Question
   
   1. POEM
   2. PICO
3. STEP 2: Finding the Best Evidence
4. STEP 3: Appraising the Evidence
   
   1. CAMeL General Steps
   2. CAMeL Critical Appraisal Protocols
      
      1. Therapy
      2. Diagnostic Tests
      3. Review Articles
      4. Screening Tests
      5. Prognosis
      6. Causation
5. STEP 4: Preparing an EBM Presentation
   
   1. Protocol for the Presentation
   2. Sample Presentation
6. Overview of Statistics
   
   1. Statistics Without Statistics
   2. Ten Ways to Cheat
7. Glossary of Terms
   Terms marked with an asterisk (*)
   are defined in the Glossary.
References

  Back to Evidence-Based Instruction page

IV.  STEP 3: Appraising the Evidence  (continued)

2. Questions to Evaluate a Study Whose Primary Objective is to Evaluate a Diagnostic Test (continued)

Outcomes Evaluation  (continued)

2. Were the following characteristics of the test assessed?
    
    
   

   Specificity	a/(a+c)
   Sensitivity	d/(d+b)
   Likelihood ratio +	sens/(1-spec)
   Likelihood ratio -	(1-sens)/spec
   Positive predictive value	a/(a+b)
   Negative predictive value	d/(c+d)
   Pretest odds	prevalence/(1-prevalence)
   Post-test odds	pretest odds x likelihood ratio
   Post-test probability	post-test odds/(post test odds+1)

 
 

3. Was the post-test predictive value significantly affected by the test?
4. How did the expense, safety, and feasibility of the new test compare to the gold standard?
5. Would your patients accept the test?

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