In the first part of this assignment we were to make a PICO question and choose three research papers and justify it according to currency, level of evidence ,what makes me to choose these articles and compare and contrast with each paper. now in the second part we have to conduct a critical appraisal for those three papers according to the given questions and assessing the quality of selected articles and synthesising the evidence using the concepts of population health subjects.
Concepts in each lecture
lecture 1
Understand the difference between screening and diagnosis
Describe the goals for screening
Understand what makes a disease screenable
Evaluate the feasibility of screening
Describe screening programs available in Australia
lecture 2
Appraise the validity of diagnostic evidence
Interpret results from diagnostic studies
Describe sensitivity and specificity
Describe how diagnostic evidence can inform practice
lecture 3
Study validity – potential errors in epidemiological studies
Systematic error
Selection bias and measurement error
Confounding
Random error
Critical appraisal
What makes a good study?
The basics of critical appraisal
lecture 4
Systematic reviews and meta analyses
Isn’t life fine without them – why we need systematic reviews
Assessing the quality of a systematic review
Clinical guidelines
Assessing the quality of guidelines
Assignment 2
Q1 Describe the characteristics of the three papers you selected
o What was the exposure or intervention (this should be the same in all three studies)?
o What was the outcome (this should be the same in all three studies)?
o What were the study designs?
o Who were the study population?(Length: ~300 words)
Q2 To what extent can the observed association between the exposure and outcome be attributed to bias and confounding
o Are the results likely to be affected by selection and/or measurement bias?
o Are the results likely to be affected by confounding?
o Are the results likely to be affected by chance variation? (Length: ~500 words)
Q3 Do the findings of the three articles accord with each other?
o Are the findings of your three selected studies consistent with each other?
o Pay particular attention to the study designs and how they may contribute to your overall synthesis of this evidence (i.e. evidence level)(Length: ~300 words)
Q4. What is the summary of the evidence?
o Synthesise the results of the three studies together
o Provide a brief summary of the overall results of these studies,ensuring you discuss the results in the context of the strength of the evidence(Length: ~500 words