Institute:Office of National Coordinator (ONC) Workforce Training Curriculum
Component:The Culture of Health Care
Unit:Evidence-Based Practice
Lecture:Definition and application of EBM
Phrasing the clinical question
Slide content:Questions to Ask about the Results from Any Study Are the results valid? Are the results important? Can the results be applied to patient care? Specific sub-questions depend on type of question and study 18
Slide notes:18 When we find a piece of evidence, a study, we ask three questions: Are the results of the study valid? Are the results importantthat is, do the results show that some treatment or test is efficacious [ ef - i - kay - shus ]? And, Can the results be applied to patient care? We also have to determine whether the results of a study can be applied to a specific patient. If the study was done with a different age group or a different gender, the results may or may not be applicable. We may ask many sub-questions within these three broad categories, depending on the type of the main question, such as whether it is an intervention, diagnosis, or harm question. We also may ask different questions based on the type of study we are looking at. We may have a systematic review, for example, or we may have a randomized controlled trial. In the next few lectures, we examine the different types of clinical questions, how we look at studies, and how we appraise evidence that answers the clinical questions.