Science and Medicine Flashcards
What is the scientific method and what is involved in it?
The scientific method is a method of investigation involving experimentation and observation to acquire new knowledge, solve problems, and answer questions
- Observation/experiments
- Explanation (Hypothesis) which can be tested (Investigation starts here largely - some kind of explanation of observations)
- Prediction
- Experimentation and data interpretation
- Confirmation (or not) of the hypothesis
- Peer review
- Publication (conference/academic journal)
Explain the importance of evidence based medicine in the provision of care
SAVE
Comment on the effect of bias on scientific research
SAVE
Differentiate between primary and secondary research studies
SAVE
Explain the purpose of peer review
Asking other trained scientists to look. At your results and to see if they come to the same conclusions when they look at your data - making sure appropriate controls are done, is ethically sound and results are worthy of publication
Explain what is meant by an evidence pyramid
SAVE
What is the NHS mission statement?
The primary purpose of the NHS is ‘…
to secure, through resources available, the
greatest possible improvement in the physical
and mental health of the population’.
What are Homeopathic treatments?
Homeopathyis a “treatment” based on the use of highly diluted substances, which practitioners claim can cause the body to heal itself.
A 2010 House of Commons Science and Technology Committee report onhomeopathysaid thathomeopathic remediesperform no better than placebos (dummytreatments).
What is the principle behind applying evidence based medicine?
Use the best evidence in the scientific
literature to provide the best care for an
individual patient
When making effective clinical decisions what must we do?
In order to make effective clinical decisions we have to look at the evidence behind the decisions
What do we know about the effectiveness of the majority of treatments?
Only a small number of treatments we can say statistically has definitely benefitted the patient, the majority of effectiveness are unknown (46%)
What is required in all experiments for a comparison?
In an experiment you need an appropriate control group and that all of their behaviours are the same as those in the test group for a fair comparison
You want there to only be 1 factor that is different to show if test has fully worked or if other factors
How can scientists miss if they are being biased ?
Sometimes scientists can be a little blind to their own results as they are emotionally and financially invested
They want their hypothesis to be true
What is a flaw in the publication system?
negative results aren’t published - these could largely help us run other tests but we never see this data
