Critical Appraisal from Papers to Patient

This book is written by clinicians, for clinicians. It takes the reader step by step through the process of critical appraisal so that any journal article can be easily read, evidence evaluated and the results - and their reliability - truly understood. Suitable for undergraduates and postgraduates of all medical specialties and allied health professions, this 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. It is essential for anyone wishing to practice medicine in the best possible way for their patients, using the best evidence, tailored to the individual.

Duncan Bootland, Evan Coughlan, Robert Galloway, Emily McWhirter

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