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)

5. Questions to Evaluate a Paper on Prognosis

1. Was an inception cohort assembled and adequately described?
2. Were reproducible features measured?
3. Were the outcomes clinically significant and reproducible?
4. Was outcome at least 80%?
5. Was there adjustment for extraneous factors or interventions?

6. Questions to Evaluate a Paper on Causation

1. Was the study design a strong one?
      *Randomized controlled trial >
      *Cohort >
      *Case control >
      *Survey
   
2. Were the observers *blinded to the bias of the study; did they know which disease they were looking for and the supposition of the study?
3. Were both clinical and statistical significance evaluated?
4. Has the association been consistent across all studies?
5. Was the "cause" shown to precede the "effect".
6. Does the cause and effect relationship make sense?
7. Was there a dose response relationship?

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