Why EBM? Flashcards
Why is evidence based medicine important?
- to treat patients
- patient safety
- medical knowledge
- re validation
- professionalism
- practice- based learning
- communication
What are some of the problems with evidence based medicine?
- not relevant in clinical practice?
- takes too much time
- confusing for patients (statistics)
What things is evidence used for in clinical practice?
- Clinical findings and how to attain the right info and interpret it properly
- Aetiology identification
- Differential diagnosis
- Diagnostic test - picking and confirming
- Prognosis
- Therapy selection
- Prevention
What is the order of the hierarchy of studies (lowest to highest)?
Animal/lab studies, case report, cross sectional study, ecological study, case control, cohort, randomised control, systematic review/meta analysis
What are systematic reviews/meta analyses?
Analysing data from other trials - pooling of results
What is a randomised controlled trial?
Used to trial, manipulation of independent variable
What is an advantage and a disadvantage of RCT?
Large size needed to get good effect, expensive, missing trials can make results bias, inappropriate controls, cause and effect established
What is a cohort study?
Using a group of people before they get an illness and look retrospectively at the exposure/risk factors. Follow through to see how develops condition.
What is an advantage and a disadvantage of cohort studies?
Less prone to bias, good for common conditions, very time consuming
What is a case control study?
Those with a condition and those without are compared to look for risk factors etc. ALWAYS RETROSPECTIVE
State an advantage and disadvantage of case control studies
cheap, quick, good for rarer conditions, but retrospective so reliable?
What is an ecological study?
It is a descriptive study. Uses correlations between populations using exposures
What is a cross sectional/descriptive study and what is a disadvantage of it?
Surveys or analysis
Cannot establish cause and effect
What is a case report?
Describing one case - not used in EBM alone
- can be useful in rarer conditions
What is homeopathy?
uses principle - like causes like
diluted medicines etc.
NHS spends $4 million a year
