Health informatics and evidence based practice (don't need to regurgitate but understand) Flashcards
Evidence based medicine definition
-The conscientious explicit and judicious use of evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients
What 3 concepts did evidence based medicine challenge?
-Clinical freedom
-Doctor knows best
-Established practice
How do we synthesise information into evidence?
-Hypothesis generating and experiments
-Replicating experiments
-RCTs
Hierarchy of experimental evidence pyramid (EXAM)
Features of electronic patient record
-Clinical decision support systems - CDSS
-Learning health system - AI/machine learning
-Etiquette of consulting with computer screen
4 Vs of big data
-Variety
-Volume
-Velocity
-Veracity
What is implementation science?
-The scientific study of methods to promote the systematic uptake of research findings and other evidence based practices into routine practice
-To improve the quality and effectiveness of health services
What is the WHO surgical safety checklist?
-Ensures patients are protected from risks during surgery
What is the Cochrane library?
-Database of systematic reviews of RCTs
Features of evidence based medicine
-Translation of uncertainty to an answerable question and includes critical questioning, study design and levels of evidence
-Systematic retrieval of best evidence available
-Critical appraisal of evidence for internal validity that can be broken down into a range of aspects
Characteristics of RCT
-Population selection - as few competing health and social issues as possible
-Randomisation - participants randomised to intervention or control groups
-Conduct - participants in both groups dealt with in comparable ways
-Number of participants allow analysis to show a difference between the 2 groups
Pros and Cons of RCT
Pros
-Accurate, unbiased measurement of treatment effect
-High degree of internal validity
-Strict eligibility criteria - homogenous study population
-Accurate measurement of treatment effect
-Reduced inter-patient variability
Cons
-Suboptimal representation of patients treated in real world setting
-Most marked in patients with advanced age or greater comorbidities
What is a systematic review
-Methodical and comprehensive way of synthesising existing research on a particular topic/question
-Aims to identify, evaluate and summarise the findings of all relevant studies in a transparent and unbiased manner
Steps in a systematic review
-Begins with a research question
-To answer question, a comprehensive search for all publications relevant to question
-May be 5000 references identified
-Usually less than 20 references are relevant
-Evidence is synthesised and summarised
What is a meta analysis?
-Usually conducted within a systematic review
-Quantitative, formal, epidemiological study design used to systematically assess the results of previous research to derive conclusions about that body of research
-Statistical integration of evidence from multiple studies that address a common research question
Features of clinical guidelines
-Made the volume of research manageable for the individual clinician
-Resolved clinician’s disagreement on appropriate management
-Funding from special interest groups and government
Why the need for NICE?
-Address inappropriate variations in clinical practice and “post code” access to expensive treatments
-Support clinicians to keep up to date with relevant new evidence
-Assess the value (cost effectiveness) of new and existing treatments
-Encourage innovation
What are QALYs?
QALY = added life x quality during that added time
Added duration of life quality of that life quality from 0-1
0 = no quality 1 = full quality
What does NICE value cost of QALY?
-Treatments that cost between £20000 and £30000 per Quality adjusted life year (QALY) represent good value for money
How are NICE guidelines formed?
Distillation of:
-Expert opinion
-Observational studies
-Cohort and case control studies
-Systematic reviews
-RCTs
What is a learning health system?
-Advanced approach to healthcare where data and experiences from clinical practice are continuously collected, analysed and used to improve patient care
What is in electronic patient record (EPR)?
-Patient’s demographic data
-Biometric data
-Disease and treatment data
-Presenting history
-Examination data
Clinician’s action:
-proposed diagnosis, investigation, treatment
What happens when evidence is implemented?
-replace a behaviour
-reject a behaviour
-adopt a new behaviour
-individual, group or system level
How could you change the behaviour of prescribing?
-Install a pop up in the computer
-Block the prescribing of the expensive versions of the drug within the NHS
-Provide an educational programme for all prescribers
-Run a national media programme to inform patients what to expect
-Prevent the dispensing by chemists of the more expensive statins without justification