Essential Evidence-Based Medicine

by Dan Mayer

• ISBN13: 9780521832618
• ISBN10: 0521832616
• Edition: CD
• Format: Multimedia
• Copyright: 2004-07-26
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

It may seem simple enough to use the best research results to determine the best care for an individual patient, however many medical students and physicians may not have the mathematical background or training to critically evaluate published research. This "user's guide" helps the medical professional to become a more discriminating reader of medical literature, and ultimately better equipped to apply evidence-based medicine in practice. The volume will be an ideal introductory text for medical students and health-care professionals.

Table of Contents

Preface

1. A brief history of medicine and statistics

2. What is evidence based?

3. Causation

4. The medical literature - an overview medicine

5. Searching the medical literature

6. Study design and strength of evidence

7. Instruments and measurements: precision and validity

8. Sources of bias

9. Review of basic statistics

10. Hypothesis testing

11. Type I errors and number needed to treat

12. Negative studies and type II errors

13. Risk assessment

14. Multivariate analysis

15. Randomized clinical trials (RCTs)

16. Scientific integrity and the responsible conduct of research

17. Applicability and strength of evidence

18. An overview of decision making in medicine

19. Sources of error in clinical decision making

20. The use of diagnostic tests

21. Diagnostic tests: likelihood ratios, sensitivity and specificity

22. Bayes' theorem, predictive values, post test probabilities and interval likelihood ratios

23. Comparing tests and using ROC curves

24. Incremental gain and the threshold approach to diagnostic testing

25. Sources of bias and critical appraisal of studies of diagnostic tests

26. Screening tests

27. Practice guidelines and clinical prediction rules

28. Decision analysis

29. Cost effective analysis

30. Outcome analysis

31. Meta-analysis

Appendix 1. Common medical journals

Appendix 2. Glossary

Appendix 3. Bibliography

Appendix 4. Levels of evidence and grades of recommendations

Appendix 5. Overview of critical appraisal

Appendix 6. Common statistical tests

Appendix 7. Useful Web sites

Appendix 8. Formulae

Appendix 9. Proof of Bayes' Theorem

Appendix 10. Balance sheet approach to calculating threshold values

Index.