Memory Joggers: Worksheet for Articles about about Treatment
1. Determine Relevance:
Is this article worth taking the time to read? If the answer to any of these questions is No, it may be better to read other articles first.
Based on the conclusion of the abstract:
- A. Did the authors study the outcome that patients would care about? (Be careful to avoid results that require extrapolation to an outcome that truly matters to patients)
Yes (Go on) No (stop)
- B. Is the problem studied one that is common to your practice and the intervention feasible?
Yes (Go on) No (stop)
- C. Will this information, if true, require you to change your current practice?
Yes (Go on) No (stop)
2. Determine Validity:
If the answers to all three questions above are Yes, then continued assessment of the article is mandatory. Study design flaws are common; fatal flaws are arresting.
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- D. Population
1. Are the studied patients similar enough to your patients that you can apply the results to your practice?
Yes No (stop)
- E. Study design
1. Was it a controlled trial?
Yes No (stop)
1. Was it a controlled trial?
Yes No (stop)
2. Were the subjects randomly assigned?
Yes No (stop)
3. Were steps taken to conceal the treatment assignment from study personnel entering patients into the study?
Yes No (stop)
4. Were patients and study personnel "blind" to treatment?
Yes No (stop)
- F. Study conduct
1. Were all patients who entered the trial properly accounted for at its conclusion?
Yes No (stop)
2. Was follow-up complete?
Yes No (stop)
3. Were patients analyzed in the groups to which they were randomized ("intention-to-treat" analysis)?
Yes No (stop)
4. Were the intervention and control groups similar?
Yes No (stop)
- G. Study results
1. What were the results?
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2. Are the results clinically as well as statistically significant?
Yes No
3. If a negative trial, was the power of the study adequate?
Yes No
4. Were there other factors that might have affected the outcome?
Yes No
5. How will it change your practice?
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Revision 2000: Information Mastery Working Group. Adapted from material developed at McMaster University.
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