How to read a paper : the basics of evidence based medicine / Trisha Greenhalgh.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Greenhalgh, Trisha.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Evidence-based medicine.

Medical literature--Evaluation.

Medical literature.

Physical Description:

xviii, 222 p.

Edition:

2nd ed.

Place of Publication:

London : BMJ, 2000.

Summary:

In this work, Trisha Greenhalgh provides the basics of evidence based medicine: how to find a medical research paper, assess it for its scientific validity, and where relevant, put the findings into practice.

Contents:

Intro

Contents

Foreword to the first edition

Preface

Preface to the first edition: Do you need to read this book?

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1: Why read papers at all?

1.1 Does "evidence based medicine" simply mean "reading medical papers"?

1.2 Why do people often groan when you mention evidence based medicine?

1.3 Before you start: formulate the problem

Chapter 2: Searching the literature

2.1 Reading medical articles

2.2 The Medline database

2.3 Problem 1:You are trying to find a particular paper which you know exists

2.4 Problem 2:You want to answer a very specific clinical question

2.5 Problem 3:You want to get general information quickly about a well defined topic

2.6 Problem 4:Your search gives you lots of irrelevant articles

2.7 Problem 5:Your search gives you no articles at all or not as many as you expected

2.8 Problem 6:You don't know where to start searching

2.9 Problem 7:Your attempt to limit a set leads to loss of important articles but does not exclude those of low methodological quality

2.10 Problem 8: Medline hasn't helped, despite a thorough search

2.11 The Cochrane Library

Chapter 3: Getting your bearings (what is this paper about?)

3.1 The science of "trashing" papers

3.2 Three preliminary questions to get your bearings

3.3 Randomised controlled trials

3.4 Cohort studies

3.5 Case-control studies

3.6 Cross-sectional surveys

3.7 Case reports

3.8 The traditional hierarchy of evidence

3.9 A note on ethical considerations

Chapter 4: Assessing methodological quality

4.1 Was the study original?

4.2 Who is the study about?

4.3 Was the design of the study sensible?

4.4 Was systematic bias avoided or minimised?

4.5 Was assessment "blind"?

4.6 Were preliminary statistical questions addressed?

4.7 Summing up.

Chapter 5: Statistics for the non-statistician

5.1 How can non-statisticians evaluate statistical tests?

5.2 Have the authors set the scene correctly?

5.3 Paired data, tails, and outliers

5.4 Correlation, regression, and causation

5.5 Probability and confidence

5.6 The bottom line (quantifying the risk of benefit and harm)

5.7 Summary

Chapter 6: Papers that report drug trials

6.1 "Evidence" and marketing

6.2 Making decisions about therapy

6.3 Surrogate endpoints

6.4 How to get evidence out of a drug rep

Chapter 7: Papers that report diagnostic or screening tests

7.1 Ten men in the dock

7.2 Validating diagnostic tests against a gold standard

7.3 Ten questions to ask about a paper which claims to validate a diagnostic or screening test

7.4 A note on likelihood ratios

Chapter 8: Papers that summarise other papers (systematic reviews and meta-analyses)

8.1 When is a review systematic?

8.2 Evaluating systematic reviews

8.3 Metaanalysis for the non-statistician

8.4 Explaining heterogeneity

Chapter 9: Papers that tell you what to do (guidelines)

9.1 The great guidelines debate

9.2 Do guidelines change clinicians' behaviour?

9.3 Questions to ask about a set of guidelines

Chapter 10: Papers that tell you what things cost (economic analyses)

10.1 What is economic analysis?

10.2 Measuring the costs and benefits of health interventions

10.3 Ten questions to ask about an economic analysis

10.4 Conclusion

Chapter 11: Papers that go beyond numbers (qualitative research)

11.1 What is qualitative research?

11.2 Evaluating papers that describe qualitative research

11.3 Conclusion

Chapter 12: Implementing evidence based findings

12.1 Surfactants versus steroids: a case study in adopting evidence based practice.

12.2 Changing health professionals' behaviour: evidence from studies on individuals

12.3 Managing change for effective clinical practice: evidence from studies on organisational change

12.4 The evidence based organisation: a question of culture

12.5 Theories of change

12.6 Priorities for further research on the implementation process

Appendix 1: Checklists for finding, appraising, and implementing evidence

Appendix 2: Evidence based quality filters for everyday use

Appendix 3: Maximally sensitive search strings (to be used mainly for research)

Appendix 4: Assessing the effects of an intervention

Index.

Notes:

Previous ed.: 1997.

ISBN:

9781444307535

1444307533

OCLC:

935227621