Critical appraisal

Question 1

What is critical appraisal

Answer 1

The systematic evaluation of a clinical research paper. Involves interpreting information within a research paper, in a systematic and objective manner

(Crucial part is evidence based medicine to guide decision making for clinical management)

Question 2

What is evidence based medicine

Answer 2

Aims to integrate the best research evidence with clinical expertise and patients values

Research evidence appraised in three main areas:
1. Validity
2. Importance
3. Applicability

Question 3

What are the 4 broad questions

Answer 3

1. Why did the authors perform this research?/ what is the research question
2. What did they do to answer each question?/ how did they do it?
3. What did they find?
4. What did they conclude?

Question 4

Hierarch of evidence

Answer 4

Are the findings robust?

This can be affected by:
Imprecision (a random error)
Biases (systematic error)

Common biases:
Selection bias
Information bias
Reporting and publication bias

Quality assessment required