Do you know of a medical research article which has been criticized in the medical literature? If so, please email me the citation to the primary article and the referring article or book. Do you know of an article that criticizes other medical articles? Please email the citation to me: Tanya Feddern at [email protected] Thank you!
Sung JJ, Chung SC, Lai CW, Chan FK, Leung JW, Yung MY, Kassianides C, Li AK. Octreotide infusion or emergency sclerotherapy for variceal haemorrhage. Lancet. 1993 Sep 11;342(8872):637-41.
Altman notes, "Sung et al carried out a randomized trial to compare octreotide infusion and emergency sclerotherapy for acute variceal hemorrhage in 100 patients. The observed rates of controlled bleeding were 84% in the octreotide group and 90% in the sclerotherapy group, giving P = 0.56. Note that the figures for uncontrolled bleeding are similar to those for wound infection in the study just considered [note--mentioned earlier in the book's paragraph]. In this case, however, the 95% CI for the treatment difference of 6% is -7% to +19%. This interval is very wide in relation to the 5% difference that was of interest. It is clear that the study cannot rule out a large difference in effectiveness, so that the authors' conclusion that 'octreotide infusion and sclerotherapy are equally effective in controlling variceal haemorrhage" is certainly not valid" (Atlman, 2000 p 241).
Altman DG (2000). Appendix 1: Confidence Intervals. In Sackett et al., Evidence-Based Medicine: How to practice and teach EBM (233-243). NY: Churchill Livingstone.
Magnesium, myocardial infarction, meta-analysis and megatrials. Drug Ther Bull. 1995 Apr;33(4):25-7.
Miser notes: "A classic example of a flawed meta-analysis is one that suggested that giving intravenous magnesium was beneficial to those who had myocardial infarctions" (Miser, 2000 p 59).
Miser WF (2000). Applying a Meta-Analysis to Daily Clinical Practice. In Evidence-based clinical practice: Concepts and approaches. Boston: Butterworth Heinemann.
Molteni RA, Bumstead DH. Development and severity of palatal grooves in orally intubated newborns. Effect of 'soft' endotracheal tubes. Am J Dis Child. 1986 Apr;140(4):357-9.
Errors noted by Hill ES. Possible statistical error in an endotracheal tube study. Am J Dis Child. 1986 Nov;140(11):1099-100.
Pocock SJ, Hughes MD, Lee RJ. Statistical problems in the reporting of clinical trials. A survey of three medical journals.
N Engl J Med. 1987 Aug 13;317(7):426-32.
Readers can infer which articles the authors are referring to.
Evans M, Pollock AV. Trials on trial. A review of trials of antibiotic prophylaxis. Arch Surg. 1984 Jan;119(1):109-13.
Readers can infer which articles the authors are referring to.
Gartland JJ. Orthopaedic clinical research. Deficiencies in experimental design and determinations of outcome.
J Bone Joint Surg Am. 1988 Oct;70(9):1357-64.
Readers can infer which articles the author is referring to.
Gross M. A critique of the methodologies used in clinical studies of hip-joint arthroplasty published in the English-language orthopaedic literature. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 1988 Oct;70(9):1364-71.
Readers can infer which articles the author is referring to.
Altman DG. Statistics and ethics in medical research: collecting and screening data. BMJ. 1980 Nov 22;281(6252):1399-401.
Readers can infer which articles the author is referring to.
Hall JC. The other side of statistical significance: a review of type II errors in the Australian medical literature. Aust N Z J Med. 1982 Feb;12(1):7-9.
Readers can infer which articles the author is referring to.
Maclure M, Willett WC. Misinterpretation and misuse of the kappa statistic. Am J Epidemiol. 1987 Aug;126(2):161-9.
A technical article. Readers can infer which articles the author is referring to.
Rothwell PM, McDowell Z, Wong CK, Dorman PJ. Doctors and patients don't agree: cross sectional study of patients' and doctors' perceptions and assessments of disability in multiple sclerosis.
BMJ. 1997 May 31;314(7094):1580-3.
Pitkin et al notes a minor discrepency: "[in the abstract they] reported the population to consist of '42 consecutive patients,' whereas the body indicated it to be '44 consecutive patients of which 42 agreed to participate.'"(Pitkin, Branagan, & Burnmeister 1999, p 1111).
Pitkin RM, Branagan MA, Burmeister LF. Accuracy of data in abstracts of published research articles. JAMA. 1999 Mar 24-31;281(12):1110-1.
Comments in:
JAMA. 1999 Mar 24-31;281(12):1129-30.
JAMA. 2000 Jan 26;283(4):481.
Paroxysmal nocturnal haemoglobinuria: long-term follow-up and prognostic factors. French Society of Haematology. Lancet. 1996 Aug 31;348(9027):573-7.
Pitkin et al notes a more serious discrepency: "[in the abstract they] gave the estimated 15-year survival as 48%, whereas the body of the text indicated it to be 58%" (Pitkin, Branagan, & Burnmeister 1999, p 1111).
Pitkin RM, Branagan MA, Burmeister LF. Accuracy of data in abstracts of published research articles. JAMA. 1999 Mar 24-31;281(12):1110-1.
Comments in:
JAMA. 1999 Mar 24-31;281(12):1129-30.
JAMA. 2000 Jan 26;283(4):481.
Lorentz K. Routine alpha-amylase assay using protected 4-nitrophenyl-1, 4-alpha-D-maltoheptaoside and a novel alpha-glucosidase. Clin Chem. 2000 May;46(5):644-9.
Siebers notes: "[in the abstract they] reported the preliminary 0.95 reference interval for alpha-amylase as 33.6-96.2 U/L in adults, wheras in the article the 0.95 reference interval was reported as 33.9-96.2 U/L" (Siebers 2000, p 149).
Siebers R. Data inconsistencies in abstracts of articles in Clinical chemistry. Clin Chem. 2001 Jan;47(1):149.
Garcia-Barcelo M, Chow LY, Chiu HF, Wing YK, Lee DT, Lam KL, Waye MM. Genetic analysis of the CYP2D6 locus in a Hong Kong Chinese population.
Clin Chem. 2000 Jan;46(1):18-23.
Siebers noted: "[they] report in the abstract that CYP2D6*10/CYP2D6*10 was the most frequent genotype in 46.22% in a Hong Kong Chinese population, whereas in the article a frequency of 41.17% was reported" (Siebers 2000, p 149).
Siebers R. Data inconsistencies in abstracts of articles in Clinical chemistry. Clin Chem. 2001 Jan;47(1):149.
More citations coming!
Hall JC, Hill D, Watts JM. Misuse of statistical methods in the Australasian surgical literature. Aust N Z J Surg. 1982 Oct;52(5):541-3.
Gardner MJ, Altman DG, Jones DR, Machin D.Is the statistical assessment of papers submitted to the "British Medical Journal" effective? Br Med J (Clin Res Ed). 1983 May 7;286(6376):1485-8.
Altman DG. Statistics and ethics in medical research. VIII-Improving the quality of statistics in medical journals. Br Med J (Clin Res Ed). 1981 Jan 3;282(6257):44-6.
Felson DT, Cupples LA, Meenan RF.Misuse of statistical methods in Arthritis and Rheumatism. 1982 versus 1967-68. Arthritis Rheum. 1984 Sep;27(9):1018-22.
Avram MJ, Shanks CA, Dykes MH, Ronai AK, Stiers WM. Statistical methods in anesthesia articles: an evaluation of two American journals during two six-month periods. Anesth Analg. 1985 Jun;64(6):607-11.
Hoffmann O. Application of statistics and frequency of statistical errors in articles in acta neurochirurgica. Acta Neurochir (Wien). 1984;71(3-4):307-15.
Morris RW. A statistical study of papers in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery [BR] 1984. J Bone Joint Surg Br. 1988 Mar;70(2):242-6.
Gardner MJ, Machin D, Campbell MJ. Use of check lists in assessing the statistical content of medical studies. Br Med J (Clin Res Ed). 1986 Mar 22;292(6523):810-2.
Gotzsche PC. Methodology and overt and hidden bias in reports of 196 double-blind trials of nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs in rheumatoid arthritis. Control Clin Trials. 1989 Mar;10(1):31-56.
Djulbegovic B, Adams JR, Lyman GH, Lacevic M, Hozo I, Greenwich M, Bennett CL. Evaluation and appraisal of randomized controlled trials in myeloma. Ann Oncol. 2001 Nov;12(11):1611-7.
Cooper GS, Zangwill L. An analysis of the quality of research reports in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. J Gen Intern Med. 1989 May-Jun;4(3):232-6.
Honest H, Khan KS. Reporting of measures of accuracy in systematic reviews of diagnostic literature. BMC Health Serv Res. 2002;2(1):4.
Bramwell VH, Williams CJ. Do authors of review articles use systematic methods to identify, assess and synthesize information? Ann Oncol. 1997 Dec;8(12):1185-95.
Pitkin RM, Branagan MA. Can the accuracy of abstracts be improved by providing specific instructions? A randomized controlled trial. JAMA. 1998 Jul 15;280(3):267-9.
Comment in: JAMA. 1998 Dec 23-30;280(24):2071
Pitkin RM, Branagan MA, Burmeister LF. Accuracy of data in abstracts of published research articles. JAMA. 1999 Mar 24-31;281(12):1110-1.
Pitkin RM, Branagan MA, Burmeister LF. Effectiveness of a journal intervention to improve abstract quality. JAMA. 2000 Jan 26;283(4):481.
Estrada CA, Bloch RM, Antonacci D, Basnight LL, Patel SR, Patel SC, Wiese W. Reporting and concordance of methodologic criteria between abstracts and articles in diagnostic test studies. J Gen Intern Med. 2000 Mar;15(3):183-7.
Dryver E, Hux JE. Reporting of numerical and statistical differences in abstracts: improving but not optimal. J Gen Intern Med. 2002 Mar;17(3):203-6.
Siebers R. Data inconsistencies in abstracts in the New Zealand Medical Journal. N Z Med J. 2002 Feb 8;115(1147):57-8.
Siebers R. Data inconsistencies in abstracts of articles in Clinical chemistry. Clin Chem. 2001 Jan;47(1):149.
Harris AH, Standard S, Brunning JL, Casey SL, Goldberg JH, Oliver L, Ito K, Marshall JM. The accuracy of abstracts in psychology journals. J Psychol. 2002 Mar;136(2):141-8.
Evans M, Pollock AV. Trials on trial. A review of trials of antibiotic prophylaxis. Arch Surg. 1984 Jan;119(1):109-13.
Lodge H. Improving the accuracy of abstracts in scientific articles. JAMA. 1998 Dec 23-30;280(24):2071. [Letter pointing out that assignment of MeSH terms may come from the abstract.]
Hartley J. Clarifying the abstracts of systematic literature reviews. Bull Med Libr Assoc. 2000 Oct;88(4):332-7. [Focuses more on how to improve the readability of abstracts; includes a before and after example.]
Winker MA. The need for concrete improvement in abstract quality. JAMA. 1999 Mar 24-31;281(12):1129-30.
Hartley, J. Are structured abstracts more or less accurate than traditional ones? A study in the psychological literature. Journal Of Information Science. 2000;26(4):273-277.
Narine L, Yee DS, Einarson TR, Ilersich AL. Quality of abstracts of original research articles in CMAJ in 1989. CMAJ. 1991 Feb 15;144(4):449-53.
Taddio A, Pain T, Fassos FF, Boon H, Ilersich AL, Einarson TR. Quality of nonstructured and structured abstracts of original research articles in the British Medical Journal, the Canadian Medical Association Journal and the Journal of the American Medical Association. CMAJ. 1994 May 15;150(10):1611-5.
Siebers R. Data in abstracts of research articles. Are they consistent with those reported in the article? Br J Biomed Sci. 2002;59(2):67-8.
Michel DJ. Content and accuracy of abstracting services: clinical perspective. Hosp Formul. 1988 Jul;23(7):596-8, 601-3, 607.
Milne A. An evaluation of 'Inpharma', a drug literature abstracting service. J Clin Hosp Pharm. 1981 Sep;6(3):189-93. Wentz R, Roberts I, Bunn F, Edwards P, Kwan I, Lefebvre C. Identifying controlled evaluation studies of road safety interventions: Searching for needles in a haystack. J Safety Res. 2001 Nov;32(3):267-276. [Page 274 mentions a problematic abstract.]
Dick GS, Meller ST, Pinkerton CR. Randomised comparison of ondansetron and metoclopramide plus dexamethasone for chemotherapy induced emesis. Arch Dis Child. 1995 Sep;73(3):243-5.
Abstract notes: "Thirty children aged 1-15 years..." but the Methods Section notes: "Thirty patients aged 18 months to 15 years..." [Note: The difference between 1 year and 1 1/2 years can be substantial for an infant.]
Evidence that Changed Medical Practice lists randomized controlled trials and non-randomized controlled trials that made a difference; both are available as Word documents
Ebell MH, Siwek J, Weiss BD, Woolf SH, Susman J, Ewigman B, Bowman M. Strength of recommendation taxonomy (SORT): a patient-centered approach to grading evidence in the medical literature. J Am Board Fam Pract. 2004 Jan-Feb;17(1):59-67.
See Table 1: Examples of Inconsistency Between Disease-Oriented and Patient-Oriented Outcomes
If your students haven't been able to generate a PICO from an actual patient encounter, then perhaps they can generate PICOs out of a simulated case report/grand rounds/etc. The following it a growing list; I'm still in the As; check back as I'll be adding new titles to the the list 'til I get to the Zs in the library! (I'm doing this in my spare time, might take a while.) These journals often contain a section of case reports; I list the title of the section & whether the table of contents is on the front cover, inside, or back cover. The * (asterisk) means that the section is occassional rather than regular. This list can also be handy for those teaching problem-based learning. The highlighted titles are the ones I send my students to.
ACTA Medica Okayama*: "Case Reports" back
ACTA Paediatrica: "Clinical Observations" inside
Age & Ageing: "Case Reports" inside
Aging: Clinical & Experimental Research*: "Case Reports" inside
AIDS Patient Care: "Case Reports" inside
Allergy & Asthma Proceedings: "Case Report & Discussion from Brigham & Women's Hospital/Harvard Medical School" front
Alternative Therapies in Health & Medicine: "Case Reports" inside
American Journal of Anesthesiology: "Case Reports" front
Journal of Athletic Training*: "Case Reports" inside
Journal of Manipulative & Physiological Therapeutics (JMPT)*: "Case Report" inside
Manual Therapy: an International Journal of Musculoskeletal Therapy: "Case Report" inside
New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM): "Case Records of the Massachusetts General Hospital" front
Physical Therapy Case Reports: entire issue is devoted to case reports
Postgraduate Medical Journal: "Case Reports" front
Although these articles are spoofs, they're short, easy-to-read, & a few provide Odds Ratio data & such, which can make for pleasant practice of critical appraisal formulas.
Weiss G. Clinical research in ancient Babylon: methodologic insights from the Book of Daniel. Obstet Gynecol. 1996 Jan;87(1):156-8.
Isaacs D, Fitzgerald D. Seven alternatives to evidence based medicine. BMJ. 1999 Dec 18-25;319(7225):1618. Also read the Rapid Responses and Letters at the end of the article.
[Note: abridged Italian version, another abridged Italian version, yet another abridged Italian version, abridged Russian version, abridged Spanish version in a serious article; scroll down to Tabla 4, abridged French version scroll down towards end of webpage, full French translation from the French edition of EBM Journal, and Japanese version.]
Clinicians for the Restoration of Autonomous Practice (CRAP) Writing Group. EBM: Unmasking the Ugly Truth. BMJ. 2002 Dec 21;325(7377):1496-1498. Also read the Rapid Responses and Letters at the end of the article.
Britton BJ, Evans JG, Potter JM. Does the fly matter? the CRACKPOT study in evidence based trout fishing. The Collaborative Randomised and Controlled Kennet Piscatorial Options Trail (CRACKPOT) Investigators. BMJ. 1998 Dec 19-26;317(7174):1678-80. Also read the Rapid Responses and Letters at the end of the article.
Eagle KA, Winters W, O'Connor G, Judge R. MR. CRACKPOT (Madison River Collaborative Randomized And Controlled Knowledgeable Piscatorial Options Trial). ACC Current Journal Review. 2002 May-Jun; 11(3):23-26.
Oxman AD, Chalmers I, Sackett DL. A practical guide to informed consent to treatment. BMJ. 2001 Dec 22-29;323(7327):1464-6.
Bennett HJ. A piece of my mind. Keeping up with the literature. JAMA. 1992 Feb 19;267(7):920.
How to read clinical journals: IX. Sounding like you've read the literature when you haven't read a thing. CMAJ. 1998 Dec 15;159(12):1488-9.
Shumak SL, Redelmeier DA. How to read clinical journals: X. How to react when your colleagues haven't read a thing. CMAJ. 2000 Dec 12;163(12):1570-2.
McGowan J. Katz on the Net. CMAJ. 1998 Dec 15;159(12):1494.
Kaczorowski M, Kaczorowski J. Ice cream evoked headaches (ICE-H) study: randomised trial of accelerated versus cautious ice cream eating regimen. BMJ. 2002 Dec 21;325(7378):1445-6. [Note: has Relative Risk, P-values, Number Needed to Harm (NNH), & Confidence Intervals)
Cooke F, Morse R. Do you know your chocolates? Recognition survey among medical staff of various grades. BMJ. 1997 Dec 20-27;315(7123):1655-6.
An inexpensive and edible aid for the diagnosis of puberty in the male: multispecies evaluation of an alternative orchidometer. BMJ. 2001 Dec 22-29;323(7327):1486.
Barone JE. Comparing apples and oranges: a randomised prospective study. BMJ. 2000 Dec 23-30;321(7276):1569-70.
Norton SA. Tokelau on Naboo. BMJ. 2000 Dec 23-30;321(7276):1619-20.
Trevithick CC, Chartrand MM, Wahlman J, Rahman F, Hirst M, Trevithick JR. Shaken martinis may be more effective antioxidants than stirred ones. BMJ. 1999 Dec 18;319(7225):E. Also read the Rapid Responses and Letters at the end of the article.
Hayden GF. Alliteration in medicine: a puzzling profusion of p's. BMJ. 1999 Dec 18-25;319(7225):1605-8. Also read the Rapid Responses and Letters at the end of the article.
Palazzo FF, Warner OJ. Surgeons swear when operating: fact or myth? BMJ. 1999 Dec 18-25;319(7225):1611.
Redelmeier DA, Singh SM. Longevity of screenwriters who win an academy award: longitudinal study. BMJ. 2001 Dec 22-29;323(7327):1491-6.
Kinra S, Okasha M. Unsafe sax: cohort study of the impact of too much sax on the mortality of famous jazz musicians. BMJ. 1999 Dec 18-25;319(7225):1612-3. Also read the Rapid Responses and Letters at the end of the article.
Moradi P, Rowe J, Washington S. Whither hospital linen? Two centre observational study of alien hospital linen. BMJ. 1999 Dec 18-25;319(7225):1614.
Crayford T, Hooper R, Evans S. Death rates of characters in soap operas on British television: is a government health warning required? BMJ. 1997 Dec 20-27;315(7123):1649-52.
Thurston J. How to acquire a coat of arms. BMJ. 1997 Dec 20-27;315(7123):1682-4.
Eagles JM, Rhind GB. Increasing handicaps in hospital medicine: two point cross sectional study of golfing activity among doctors. BMJ. 1997 Dec 20-27;315(7123):1656-7. [Note: has Odds Ratios & Confidence Intervals]
Murchie, P. Evidence-Based Golfing. Hootlet. 2002 Winter.
Patterson R, Weijer C. D'oh! An analysis of the medical care provided to the family of Homer J. Simpson. CMAJ. 1998 Dec 15;159(12):1480-1. [Note: comments in: CMAJ. 1998 Dec 15;159(12):1467-8 and CMAJ. 1998 Dec 15;159(12):1476-7.]
Clarfield AM. The holiday literature: a critical review. CMAJ. 1998 Dec 15;159(12):1492-3. [Note: points out various study design biases.]
Nordin AJ. A prospective study of postpartum candy gift net weight: correlation with birth weight. Obstet Gynecol. 1993 Jul;82(1):156-8. [Note: has confidence interval, confidence level, skewness, kurtosis, coeffecient of variation, p value, and coefficient of correlation.]
Innes G. Cost-effectiveness of beer versus red wine for the prevention of symptomatic coronary artery disease. CMAJ. 1998 Dec 15;159(12):1463-6. [Note: standard research article format, has baseline characteristics, p-values, followup, NNT, economic analysis including QALY, and maybe a power analysis to determine sufficient sample size.]
Hurst JK. The good, the bad and the ugly. Association between car colour and bicycle passing space. CMAJ. 1998 Dec 15;159(12):1461-2. [Note: has odds ratios.]
The well-made bed: an unappreciated public health risk. CMAJ. 2001 Dec 11;165(12):1591-2.
Brockman MD. Voracious shredder syndrome. N Engl J Med. 1993 Feb 4;328(5):359.
Nair BR, Attia JR, Mears SR, Hitchcock KI. Evidence-based physicians' dressing: a crossover trial. MJA 2002; 177(11/12):681-682. [Also available in PDF.]
Parker GB. Would the pharmaceutical companies please mind their Ps and Qs, and their Xs, Ys and Zs. MJA 2000; 173:662-663. [Also available in PDF.]
Cartoon by Leo Cullum in the New Yorker: "Never, ever, think outside the box." If this URL doesn't work, use this one, scroll down to "Cartoon Search," click on "Advanced Search," type 40533 in the ID# box, and click on "Search."
Is it what you eat? short posting spoofing conflicting medical studies
Cole, K. Good times with e: How to enjoy EBM. from The Connective Tissue: a Tufts Medical Student Publication.
The Connective Tissue: a Tufts Medical Student Publication has a humor section.
The last December issue of the British Medical Journal contains numerous humor articles/research
The last December issue of the CMAJ: Canadian Medical Association Journal, articles could be under various headings, such as "Research of the Holiday Kind," "Obfustication," and "Whimsies"
Obstetrics & Gynecology's "After Office Hours"
JAMA's "A Piece of My Mind"
Medical Journal of Australia's Christmas Offerings (some humorous, some humanistic)
European Journal of Cancer Prevention's "Literature that You May Have Missed: A Regular Contribution from Lars Ovesen, which We Hope will Help the Busy Scientist Keep up with the Literature"--it mentions, & references actual research done by researchers with too much time on their hands (eg., "Christmas Tree Drawings before and after Christmas: a Re-examination," "Distinguishing between New and Slightly Worn Underwear: a Case Study," and "A Method to Study Short-Term Memory (STM) in the Goldfish"). He's written serious research articles, but here is a list of his humorous ones, I think (don't have copies of them all): "Christmas comes, but once a year is enough," "Come over the house for a bite," "But baby, it's cold outside," "Smelly science," "Christmas in science," "Painless dentistry," "Clothes make the man," "Coke is not it," "But I am not so think as you drunk I am," "Marshmallow--a unique food," "To squat or not to squat--that is the question," "Proper chewing," "Dining in the moonshine?," "Say cheese," and "Regulatory aspects of functional foods."
Summary of humorous approaches to teaching Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) from an April 13th, 2007 posting on the Medlib discussion list
IgNobel Awards "Every Ig Nobel Prize winner has done something that first makes people LAUGH, then makes them THINK. Technically speaking, the Igs honor people whose achievements 'cannot or should not be reproduced.'" Use this resource to learn of genuine research such as
European Journal of Cancer Prevention's "Literature that You May Have Missed: A Regular Contribution from Lars Ovesen, which We Hope will Help the Busy Scientist Keep up with the Literature"--it mentions, & references actual research done by researchers with too much time on their hands (eg., "Christmas Tree Drawings before and after Christmas: a Re-examination," "Distinguishing between New and Slightly Worn Underwear: a Case Study," and "A Method to Study Short-Term Memory (STM) in the Goldfish"). He's written serious research articles, but here is a list of his humorous ones, I think: "Christmas comes, but once a year is enough," "Come over the house for a bite," "But baby, it's cold outside," "Smelly science," "Christmas in science," "Painless dentistry," "Clothes make the man," "Coke is not it," "But I am not so think as you drunk I am," "Marshmallow--a unique food," "To squat or not to squat--that is the question," "Proper chewing," "Dining in the moonshine?," "Say cheese," and "Regulatory aspects of functional foods."
Pintaric IK. Determination of ethanol in chocolate shell pralines and filled chocolates by capillary gas chromatography. Arh Hig Rada Toksikol. 1999 Mar;50(1):23-30.
Suter RJ. Presumed ethanol intoxication in sheep dogs fed uncooked pizza dough. Aust Vet J. 1992 Jan;69(1):20.
Amin MR, Buchinsky FJ, Gaughan JP, Szeremeta W. Predicting outcome in pediatric coin ingestion. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol. 2001 Jul 2;59(3):201-6.
Hong CY, Shieh CC, Wu P, Chiang BN. The spermicidal potency of Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola. Hum Toxicol. 1987 Sep;6(5):395-6.
Gahlinger PM. Cabin location and the likelihood of motion sickness in cruise ship passengers. J Travel Med. 2000 May-Jun;7(3):120-4.
As someone from Key Largo, I love this gem from the abstract: "The prevalence of motion sickness approaches 100% on rough seas."
American Druggist: "Can You Top This?" and "Humor"--regular sections
Examples of why users should check the full journal title in PubMed'sJournal Browser:
Dermatol Int is the abbreviation for the journal, Dermatologia internationalis.
Rev Neurol is the abbreviation for these journals, Revista de neurologia and Revue neurologique.
Introduction to Evidence Based Medicine and Use of the Biomedical Literature unfortunately, the course materials I researched and wrote (~300 pages) are available only to UM medical students, but you can gather from the titles what they cover & write comparable materials.
Users' Guides to the Medical Literature online and in the Reference section; wonderful book
Book Errata: How to practice and teach EBM, 2nd edition
Book Errata: How to practice and teach EBM, 1st edition
GRADING CRITERIA - 1999-2000 EVIDENCE-BASED MEDICINE PROJECT scroll down to the bottom to get to this section
SUNY Downstate Medical: Evidence Based Medicine Course gives a speedy overview of ebm
An Introduction to Information Mastery in-depth, interactive tutorials with quizzes
[EBM] Handouts includes critical appraisal sheets, full-text articles, teaching support materials and much more; also has critical appraisal worksheet of Economics, Meta-Analysis of Therapy, and Meta-Analysis of Diagnosis
Evidence Based Medicine: Peer Evaluation
Evidence Based Medicine Grade Sheet & Competency Eval
Evidence Based Medicine(EBM) � Syllabus 2000 scroll down to "EBM Project Outline" for a breakdown of points and criteria for an EBM search and critical appraisal
Educational Prescription Grading Sheet
Lifelong Learning assessment includes identifying and analyzing the medical literature
Evaluation [of the Reviews tutorial]
Evaluation [of the Diagnosis tutorial]
Evaluation [of the Therapy tutorial]
Evidence-Based Medicine Survey
Trident Family Medicine Residency Program Core Curriculum Guide scroll down to "I.b. EVIDENCE-BASED MEDICINE"
STEP 5: EVALUATE YOUR EBM SKILL LEVEL AND THE EBM EXPERIENCE; worksheet
Critical Appraisal & Using the Literature: Evaluation & Feedback Sheet
STEP 4: PRESENT THE RESULTS OF YOUR EBM SEARCH from the site: "The "One Minute Oral Presentation" is a user-friendly, audience-friendly tool that briefly summarizes the 7 steps..."; worksheet
Evaluating Your Literature Search
Drug Literature Analysis and Interpretation syllabus
[EBM] Lecture Schedule syllabus
Feedback: Student Development, Instructor Ratings, Course Elements, Additional Questions by Individual Instructors or Departments, Open-Ended Questions
Evaluation of [a Workshop] by David Armbruster; email him & see if you can get a copy of this excellent tool. He passed this out during his super workshop, "Writing for Peer-Reviewed Library Journals;" but it can be generalized to any workshop.
Hesketh EA, Laidlaw JM. Developing the teaching instinct, 1: feedback. Med Teach. 2002 May;24(3):245-8.
Brukner H, Altkorn DL, Cook S, Quinn MT, McNabb WL. Giving effective feedback to medical students: A workshop for faculty and house staff. Med Teach. 1999 Mar;21(2):161-165. [Provides specific approaches for 4 types of students--unprofessional behavior, shy/non-assertive, disputer, disinterested.]
Montemayor LL. Twelve tips for the development of electronic study guides. Med Teach. 2002 Sep;24(5):473-8.
Harden RM, Laidlaw JM, Hesketh EA. AMEE medical education guide no. 16: Study guides--their use and preparation. Med Teach. 1999 May;21(3):248-265.
Mires GJ, Howie PW, Harden RM. A 'topical' approach to planned teaching and learning using a topic-based study guide. Med Teach. 1998 Sept;20(5):438-441.
Holsgrove GJ, Lanphear JH, Ledingham IM. Study guides: An essential student learning tool in an integrated curriculum [1]. Med Teach. 1998 Mar;20(2):99-103.
Schuwirth LWT, Blackmore DE, Mom E, van den Wildenberg F, Stoffers HEJH, van der Vleuten CPM. How to write short cases for assessing problem-solving skills. Med Teach. 1999 Mar;21(2):144-150.
Evidence-based medicine: How to teach critical scientific thinking to medical undergraduates. Med Teach. 2000 Jan;22(1):22-26. [Table 5 compares the teaching techniques of EBM and PBL.]
Problems and challenges of teaching biostatistics to medical students and professionals. Med Teach. 1999 May;21(3):286-288.
Reflections on academic duties of medical school faculty. Med Teach. 2000 Jul;22(4):406-411.
AMEE guide no. 20: The good teacher is more than a lecturer--the twelve roles of the teacher. Med Teach. 2000 Jul;22(4):334-347.
AMEE medical education guide no. 22: Refreshing lecturing: A guide for lecturers. Med Teach. 2001 May;23(3):231-244.
Center for Teaching Excellence annotated links
American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine: Institute for Excellence in Osteopathic Medicine excellent site
Medical Teacher I love this journal; not only does it have an international focus, but it has practical articles (with sample teaching handouts) as well as theoretical articles
Academic Medicine journal
Medical Education online free full-text; this is a different journal than the one listed above
Journal of Health Occupation Education free full-text
Evidence-Based Medicine Toolkit: Worksheets categories include: therapy/prevention, diagnosis, prognosis, harm, clinical practice guidelines, systematic review, economic analysis
Clinical Scenarios on these practice areas: Child Health; General Practice/Primary Care; Hospital Medicine; Mental Health; Obstetrics and Neonatology; Public Health/Commissioning and Purchasing; and Surgery, Gynaecology and Urology. Categories include: Therapy, Diagnosis, Prognosis, Harm, Overviews, Practice Guidelines, Economic Evaluation, Decision Analysis, and Quality of Care.
Teaching/Learning Resources for Evidence Based Practice (EBP)
STATS - STeve's Attempt to Teach Statistics this man is wonderful for providing this info; lots of great handouts on research concepts in epidemiology & statistics
Toohey S, Watson E. Twelve tips on choosing web teaching software. Med Teach. 2001 Oct;23(6):552-555.
Revised CONSORT statement "Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials" provides examples of what the article text should look like, scroll down to the checklist and click on the topic titles to read them; click on "links" in the left frame to view the document in Dutch, French, German, Japanese, & Spanish
Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals updated in Oct. 2001; although targeted to those writing research articles, it does point out what should be written where
Lang TA, Secic M. (1997). Asking Questions and Finding Answers: Reporting Research Designs and Activities. In TA Lang & M Secic, How to report statistics in medicine: Annotated guidelines for authors, editors, and reviewers (3-37). Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: American College of Physicians. This book is written for those wishing to write research articles, but the information in this chapter provides valuable information of what basic types of data goes into the Introduction, Materials & Methods, Results, And Discussion (IMRAD) format.
Lang TA, Secic M. (1997). Comparing Groups I: Reporting P Values. In TA Lang & M Secic, How to report statistics in medicine: Annotated guidelines for authors, editors, and reviewers (65-80). Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: American College of Physicians. A deeper description of what goes into the IMRAD format for P values.
Lang TA, Secic M. (1997). Analyzing Multiple Variables II: Reporting Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). In TA Lang & M Secic, How to report statistics in medicine: Annotated guidelines for authors, editors, and reviewers (127-135). Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: American College of Physicians. A deeper description of what goes into the IMRAD format for ANOVA.
Statistically Significant Sites article reviewing biostatistics & statistics websites
Learning EBM lists EBM workshops in the US, world-wide, & online
North Carolina Evidence-Based Medicine Education Center of Excellence annotated links
Interpreting Diagnostic Tests parts are interactive
Evidence-Based Medicine Curriculum & Assignment lists competencies & assignments & grading/scoring guides
CAT Form blank CAT worksheet
Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM) Project details about a class assignment
Evidence4u from the NHS, has a completed CAT for a qualitative study, systematic review, and RCT and additional info on EBM
UCSF-Fresno Medical Education Program Evidence-Based Medicine Tutorial 12 questions, answers not provided; information about the project
EBM: Sample Cases provides 4 sample cases with questions & answers
An Introduction to Information Mastery interactive tutorials with quizzes
Diagnostic Tests I linked from Alan Schartz's EBM and Decision Tools
Bayesian Decision-Making for HOSPITALISTS TUTORIAL I. Considering Which Test to Order At the Bedside quiz
EPI-820 Homework [Questions] answers not given
Introduction to MEDLINE on the left frame, see "Quiz Section" I and II
Managing Care in Internal Medicine Quiz covers aspects of EBM
Primary Care Screening Guidelines Using Evidence-based Medicine PowerPoint presentation with MCQ's and online quiz (you need to register for the quiz)
Critically-Appraised Topics a CAT bank; the CATs are in narrative form
PedsCCM Evidence-Based Medicine Journal Club a CAT bank; the CATs are in narrative form
Appraising Reviews analyzed the article: Smeenk FW, van Haastregt JC, de Witte LP, Crebolder HF. Effectiveness of home care programmes for patients with incurable cancer on their quality of life and time spent in hospital: systematic review. BMJ. 1998 Jun 27;316(7149):1939-44.
Appraisal of Qualitative Studies analysed the article: Reed J, Morgan D. Discharging older people from hospital to care homes: implications for nursing. J Adv Nurs. 1999 Apr;29(4):819-25.
Appraisal of Original Research analyzed the article: Rudd AG, Wolfe CD, Tilling K, Beech R. Randomised controlled trial to evaluate early discharge scheme for patients with stroke. BMJ. 1997 Oct 25;315(7115):1039-44.
EBM Article Worksheets worksheet 3 analysed the article: Prevention of neural tube defects: results of the Medical Research Council Vitamin Study. MRC Vitamin Study Research Group. Lancet. 1991 Jul 20;338(8760):131-7.
Critical Appraisal analyzed the article: Campbell AJ, Robertson MC, Gardner MM, Norton RN, Tilyard MW, Buchner DM. Randomised controlled trial of a general practice programme of home based exercise to prevent falls in elderly women. BMJ. 1997 Oct 25;315(7115):1065-9.
Evidence-based Practice in Primary Care edited by Leone Ridsdale. Analyzes these articles: What worries parents when their preschool children are acutely ill, and why: a qualitative study (qualitative), Cancer as a cause of back pain: frequency, clinical presentation, and diagnostic strategies (diagnosis), Long term outcome of patients with neurotic illness in general practice (prognosis), Evaluation of an easy, cost-effective strategy for cutting benzodiazepine use in general practice (therapy/clinical trial), Controlled evaluation of brief intervention by general practitioners to reduce chronic use of benzodiazepines (therapy/clinical trial), North of England asthma guidelines recommendations on the use of oral steroids in acute asthma (clinical guidelines), Treatments for acute otitis media in children: antibiotic versus placebo (Cochrane overview/systematic review), Clinical efficacy of antimicrobial drugs for acute otitis media: meta-analysis of 5400 children from 33 randomized trials (overview/systematic review).
The Evidence Based Medicine Workbook: Critical Appraisal for Clinical Problem Solving Robert A. Dixon, James F. Munro, Paul B. Silcocks. I haven't seen this book yet, but am getting it ASAP!
CASP: Evidence-Based Health Care--Workbook & CD-ROM haven't looked at this one either
Evidence-Based Health Care Open Learning Resource, 2nd ed. haven't looked at this one either
Interpreting Diagnostic Tests parts are interactive
Sackett DL. Bias in analytic research. J Chronic Dis. 1979;32(1-2):51-63. [This article is a must! Check out the list of 35 biases (with examples from the literature) in the article's appendix.]
Wentz R. Visibility of research: FUTON bias. Lancet. 2002 Oct 19;360(9341):1256. (Describes two biases not listed in Sackett's article: Full Text On the Net (FUTON) bias and No Abstract Available (NAA) bias)
List of Cognitive Biases from Wikipedia--use the list of references at the end to verify the veracity of this page