This highly-acclaimed book continues to serve as an essential text for all medical, surgical and health professionals who need an easily accessible reference to systematically reviewing the literature. The authors are veterans of more than 150 systematic reviews and have helped form policy and practice. They have ensured that this text, enhanced by case studies, continues to be the first reference for all health professionals undertaking literature reviews. The book provides the key steps to not only reviewing the literature but also assessing the credibility of recommendations in published reviews and practice guidelines.
Authoritative, clear, concise, and practical, this highly acclaimed book continues to be an essential text for all medical, surgical and health professionals who want to have an easily accessible, quick reference to systematically reviewing the literature. Learn about the key steps to reviewing the literature Carry out your own reviews with expert guidance Assess the credibility of recommendations in published reviews and practice guidelines New for the second edition Many new case studies Examples from medicine, surgery, health professions and consumer information Expanded, updated and revised with practical guidelines and invaluable advice The authors are veterans of over 150 systematic reviews and have helped form policy and practice. They have ensured that this concise, practical text, which avoids technical jargon, continues to be the first reference for all health professionals undertaking literature reviews.
Healthcare decision makers in search of reliable information that compares health interventions increasingly turn to systematic reviews for the best summary of the evidence. Systematic reviews identify, select, assess, and synthesize the findings of similar but separate studies, and can help clarify what is known and not known about the potential benefits and harms of drugs, devices, and other healthcare services. Systematic reviews can be helpful for clinicians who want to integrate research findings into their daily practices, for patients to make well-informed choices about their own care, for professional medical societies and other organizations that develop clinical practice guidelines. Too often systematic reviews are of uncertain or poor quality. There are no universally accepted standards for developing systematic reviews leading to variability in how conflicts of interest and biases are handled, how evidence is appraised, and the overall scientific rigor of the process. In Finding What Works in Health Care the Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommends 21 standards for developing high-quality systematic reviews of comparative effectiveness research. The standards address the entire systematic review process from the initial steps of formulating the topic and building the review team to producing a detailed final report that synthesizes what the evidence shows and where knowledge gaps remain. Finding What Works in Health Care also proposes a framework for improving the quality of the science underpinning systematic reviews. This book will serve as a vital resource for both sponsors and producers of systematic reviews of comparative effectiveness research.
Healthcare providers, consumers, researchers and policy makers are inundated with unmanageable amounts of information, including evidence from healthcare research. It has become impossible for all to have the time and resources to find, appraise and interpret this evidence and incorporate it into healthcare decisions. Cochrane Reviews respond to this challenge by identifying, appraising and synthesizing research-based evidence and presenting it in a standardized format, published in The Cochrane Library (www.thecochranelibrary.com). The Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions contains methodological guidance for the preparation and maintenance of Cochrane intervention reviews. Written in a clear and accessible format, it is the essential manual for all those preparing, maintaining and reading Cochrane reviews. Many of the principles and methods described here are appropriate for systematic reviews applied to other types of research and to systematic reviews of interventions undertaken by others. It is hoped therefore that this book will be invaluable to all those who want to understand the role of systematic reviews, critically appraise published reviews or perform reviews themselves.
This updated edition of Painless Evidence-Based Medicine presents basic concepts and application of research statistics in simple and practical manner creating an introductory approach to the complex and technical subject of evidence-based medicine from experienced teachers. A simplified introductory approach to the complex and technical subject of evidence-based medicine from experienced teachers Approaches learning from the vantage point of clinical questions on therapy, diagnosis, prognosis or harm rather than the framework of study designs Provides tables and boxed case studies throughout highlighting key topics, or difficult issues, in an easy to read manner Emphasizes applicability of EBM, encouraging readers to dissect the evidence and how results can be applied to individual patients with different circumstances, varying values and preferences New to the Second Edition are chapters on health screening, clinical practice guidelines, and major updates incorporating recommended trial criteria
This bestselling pocket guide to the skills of evidence-basedmedicine succeeds in demystifying the terminology and processes ina handy and easy-to-follow format, all within the space of 100pages. With an improved layout, this second edition ofEvidence-based Medicine Toolkit offers more up-to-dateguidance as well as new sections on important areas ofresearch. New features of this second edition include: A box for each major database showing how to search theevidence, and highlighting the differences between them Flow charts for different study types New critical appraisal sections on qualitative research andeconomic evaluation Expanded list of EBM resources on the net. With these added features to make the job easier, the newToolkit is now an even better companion for all health careprofessionals using evidence-based methodology in their researchand practice.
The second edition of this best-selling book has been thoroughly revised and expanded to reflect the significant changes and advances made in systematic reviewing. New features include discussion on the rationale, meta-analyses of prognostic and diagnostic studies and software, and the use of systematic reviews in practice.
Evidence-Based Medicine Guidelines fills the demand for a handbook discussing the diagnosis and treatment of a wide range of diseases and conditions encountered by health care professionals. The title was first published in Finland by the Finnish Medical Society, where it is now considered to be the single most important support tool for the physicians' decision making in their daily work. What sets EBM Guidelines apart from competing books? Provides physicians with fast and easy access to practice guidelines based on the best available research evidence Covers practically all medical conditions encountered in general practice Developed by over 300 experienced general practitioners and specialists worldwide Includes both diagnostic and therapeutic guidelines, and recommendations on diagnostic tests and drug dosage Presented in a user-friendly format with self contained chapters based on clinical subjects Clear and concise explanations of all available evidence results in the guideline for treatment The strength of evidence is graded from A-D making this title a quick and easy reference whenever and wherever you need it! Assumes no prior knowledge of EBM or statistics - all the work of searching and appraisal has been done for you! Seeks to include guidelines where clinical evidence is incomplete or unavailable Contains full-colour photographs and tables throughout Easy-to-read and fast support at the point of care - EBM Guidelines: Summarises the best available evidence - Cochrane reviews - DARE abstracts - Clinical Evidence topics - original articles in medical journals - abstracts in the Health Technology Assessment Database - NHS Economic Evaluation Evaluates and grades the strength of all individual evidence from A (Strong research-based evidence) to D (No scientific evidence) Suggests guidelines based on clinical evidence. If clinical evidence is inadequate or missing, an expert panel evaluate all other available information and suggests the appropriate guideline With over 1000 problem-orientated or disease-specific guidelines including reference to evidence summaries for all guidelines, this title is the most extensive collection of guidelines for primary care today. Here are just a few examples of the raving reviews for Evidence-Based Medicine Guidelines: "An excellent resource... quick to use, even during consultations...very helpful to check whether our preferred diagnostic and therapeutic methods are adequate...competent suggestions based on real evidence..." —Heinz Bhend, PRIMARY CARE "clinically useful answers...easy-to-read ...this resource is worth using..." —Carl Heneghan, Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine, Oxford, UK, EVIDENCE-BASED MEDICINE Journal
This is a basic book on evidence-based medicine (EBM). It starts with an introduction to the topic. It outlines the relationship between EBM and research and quality of care. Then It goes on to cover the most commonly used modules of EBM, i.e. therapy, diagnosis, prognosis and meta-analysis. Each module starts with an introduction to fundamental concepts, and description of the related research process, and then follows the critical appraisal of related type of research artcle. At the end, it covers the different systems of grading of level of evidence and strength of recommendations. The book also has three examples of critical appraisal on diagnosis, therapy, and meta-analysis.
