Lecture 4 & 5 Reviewing Medical Literature Flashcards
Journal Impact Factor
Strives to represent the ‘impact’ a journal has on the profession/discipline
-How many times a journal has been referenced.
-Can be affected by number of articles published per year in the journal
Not an ARTICLE impact factor, for journal
Found on journal website or on print-version
Journal Impact Factor Ex
NEJM is a 34, ones Segars publishes in are single digit. BUT popularity is a factor, most people know NEJM but not Journal of Epidemiology. Best to look at other journals in that field.
AMA Citations
Format is different, date at end not beginning like APA
Uses reference numbers
APA Citations
Date at beginning
Uses last name and year throughout for author references
PLoS Citations
Open Source, more are going to this
Digital Object Identifier
DOI
Character string used to uniquely identify an object such as an electronic document
Type this in doi.org and it will take you to it
PMID #
PubMed Unique Identifier number
A number assigned by PubMed for easy identification of an individual number
Can be used in PubMed as a search term to find the exact article
NCT #
National Clinical Trials number
A number assigned by clinicaltrials.gov site once the clinical protocol is submitted and prior to initiation
Purpose was to reduce publication bias
Tells the public research was done.
Purpose of National Clinical Trials number
To reduce publication bias
Publication Bias
Most times in past, only positive was published. Likely to be published vs. available to be published.
Must have 3 positive human clinical phase 3 studies. Can take 5-10 to get 3 positive. Historically only 3 positives published not all 10 done.
Great idea, still fails
Most clinicians want to know how to
- delineate the differences in study designs and to determine which design is most appropriate for a given research question.
- evaluate how study design might impact results
- determine strengths and weaknesses for various study designs
To accurately assess a study, readers need…
Complete, clear and transparent information on its methodology and findings. Unfortunately, attempted assessments by readers of published studies frequently fail because many times authors neglect to provide lucid and complete descriptions of that critical information.
CONSORT
A checklist for clinical trials.
CONsolidated Standards Of Reporting Trials
Other types of worksheets for studies
CONSORT Extension Documents
Lots of checklists because not one size fits all.
Pragmatic Trials
Broadly defined as a randomized, controlled trial whose purpose is to inform decisions about clinical practice
-a philosophy as a continuum, not a dichotomy
