Evidence-Based Practice - How to Critically Appraise a Research Paper Part II. Interpreting the Findings and Their Applicability to Practice

1998 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 8-9
Author(s):  
Christina Jerosch-Herold

Critical appraisal of research papers can be made easier through the use of a structured review instrument. The first part of this paper considered questions about the purpose and design of a clinical trial. Interpreting the findings of a study requires some understanding of concepts such as probability and significance. This section will explain some of the more commonly used statistical terms and concludes the critical appraisal of a research paper by discussing how to assess the validity of the findings and their applicability to your own practice.

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-28
Author(s):  
Bikal Ghimire

Writing is an art and like any art form, it needs perseverance, dedication and practice. However, to write a good quality paper, the habit of reading scientific articles and analyzing them is very important. With the advent of internet and online publishing, we have access to colossal research articles on myriads of subjects making extraordinary conclusions.  Evidence based practice requires us to rely on literature for our clinical practice, and we have abundant publications on all aspects claiming to justify all sides of the argument. In this context it becomes more important for all in clinical practice to be able to dissect an article and analyze it in details.


1998 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 18-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Jerosch-Herold

The wealth of literature available to hand therapists is ever increasing and it is important to develop skills in critical appraisal to ensure that we base our practice on the best evidence available to date.


2021 ◽  
Vol 40 (6) ◽  
pp. 402-405
Author(s):  
Susan Givens Bell

Critical appraisal of the evidence is the third step in the evidence-based practice process. This column, the first in a multipart series to describe the critical appraisal process, defines and provides examples of the levels of evidence and tools to begin the appraisal process using a rapid critical appraisal technique.


2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Beth Zwart ◽  
Bernadette Olson

Context It is the responsibility of athletic training educators, through curriculum and clinical experiences, to engage students towards adopting evidence-based practice (EBP) into their practice. The initial task of implementing EBP into a curriculum or course can seem like a large task for educators and students. As a way to start scaffolding EBP concepts across the curriculum, a modified critical appraisal assignment was developed to teach therapeutic modality concepts. Objective The purpose of this action research project was to demonstrate how a modified critical appraisal assignment can be used to introduce the process and aspects of critical appraisal and begin scaffolding the development of critical appraisal skills over time. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the students' ability to (1) successfully locate relevant research needed to answer clinical questions and (2) successfully appraise the literature according to basic EBP strategy. From a program perspective, the modified critical appraisal assignment was a starting point from which to include EBP principles into didactic coursework. Design Seventeen athletic training students completed 3 modified critical appraisal assignments pertaining to the use of therapeutic modalities. Each paper included 5 sections: (1) clinical question, (2) key clinical findings, (3) clinical applicability based on information from the appraisal and significance of results, (4) article comparison table, and (5) implications for clinical practice, patient education, and future research. The instructor evaluated the assignments blind. Conclusions Students were generally able to complete the critical appraisal assignment; however, students had difficulty locating research that answered the clinical question. Students struggled to relate the key clinical findings of the research articles and implications for clinical practice to the given clinical question. Findings from this study have informed faculty teaching, including introducing EBP skills earlier in the curriculum and inserting assignments that stress various aspects of the critical appraisal process.


2005 ◽  
Vol 16 (07) ◽  
pp. 419-438 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robyn M. Cox

Evidence-based practice (EBP) has been widely embraced in many health-care fields as a way of maintaining currency of knowledge and state-of-the-art treatment recommendations in an age of information abundance and rapid scientific progress. Although the principles of EBP are slowly entering the specialties of communication disorders, they are not well known or extensively employed as yet. In this article, the rationale for EBP is presented and differences between EBP and traditional practice are highlighted. The five-step process of EBP is described: defining the problem, searching for evidence, critically appraising the evidence, formulating a recommendation, and assessing the outcome. Critical appraisal calls for determination of the validity, clinical significance, and applicability of evidence. Each of these topics is explored with emphasis placed on the application of EBP to hearing rehabilitation. Finally some suggestions are offered for researchers and practitioners to facilitate a transition to EBP in amplification provision.


2008 ◽  
Vol 2;11 (3;2) ◽  
pp. 161-186
Author(s):  
Laxmaiah Manchikanti

Evidence-based medicine, systematic reviews, and guidelines are part of modern interventional pain management. As in other specialties in the United States, evidence-based medicine appears to motivate the search for answers to numerous questions related to costs and quality of health care as well as access to care. Scientific, relevant evidence is essential in clinical care, policy-making, dispute resolution, and law. Consequently, evidence based practice brings together pertinent, trustworthy information by systematically acquiring, analyzing, and transferring research findings into clinical, management, and policy arenas. In the United States, researchers, clinicians, professional organizations, and government are looking for a sensible approach to health care with practical evidence-based medicine. All modes of evidence-based practice, either in the form of evidence-based medicine, systematic reviews, meta-analysis, or guidelines, evolve through a methodological, rational accumulation, analysis, and understanding of the evidentiary knowledge that can be applied in clinical settings. Historically, evidence-based medicine is traceable to the 1700s, even though it was not explicitly defined and advanced until the late 1970s and early 1980s. Evidence-based medicine was initially called “critical appraisal” to describe the application of basic rules of evidence as they evolve into application in daily practices. Evidence-based medicine is defined as a conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients. Evidence-based practice is defined based on 4 basic and important contingencies, which include recognition of the patient’s problem and construction of a structured clinical question, thorough search of medical literature to retrieve the best available evidence to answer the question, critical appraisal of all available evidence, and integration of the evidence with all aspects and contexts of the clinical circumstances. Systematic reviews provide the application of scientific strategies that limit bias by the systematic assembly, critical appraisal, and synthesis of all relevant studies on a specific topic. While systematic reviews are close to meta-analysis, they are vastly different from narrative reviews and health technology assessments. Clinical practice guidelines are systematically developed statements that aim to help physicians and patients reach the best health care decisions. Appropriately developed guidelines incorporate validity, reliability, reproducibility, clinical applicability and flexibility, clarity, development through a multidisciplinary process, scheduled reviews, and documentation. Thus, evidence-based clinical practice guidelines represent statements developed to improve the quality of care, patient access, treatment outcomes, appropriateness of care, efficiency and effectiveness and achieve cost containment by improving the cost benefit ratio. Part 1 of this series in evidence-based medicine, systematic reviews, and guidelines in interventional pain management provides an introduction and general considerations of these 3 aspects in interventional pain management. Key words: Evidence-based medicine, systematic reviews, clinical guidelines, narrative reviews, health technology assessments, grading of evidence, recommendations, grading systems, strength of evidence.


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