Integrating the best available health evidence into decision-making processes is an important part of evidence-based practice. However, before applying clinical research findings to patients, health care providers need to determine whether or not the research findings are trustworthy and valid.
It is important to remember that a published study is not necessarily trustworthy or sound. This is evident now more than ever with the ongoing race to develop a COVID-19 vaccine. Questionable scientific research reporting on potential COVID-19 vaccines and therapies is everywhere. Clinical research needs to be evaluated before being relied upon to guide clinical decisions—this is where critical appraisal comes in.
Critical appraisal is “the process of assessing and interpreting evidence by systematically considering its validity, results, and relevance”.
To critically appraise clinical research is to look at its methodological quality, trustworthiness and applicability to a patient’s specific situation. Critical appraisal helps us ask two essential questions when consuming information:
As a key part of evidence-based practice, critical appraisal should be conducted often! More specifically, research should always be critically appraised before being applied to a patient in a clinical scenario.
For example, let’s say a recently published study in your discipline shows a new therapy to be effective and safe for patients, and you are considering the new therapy for a patient of your own. Critically appraising the study will ensure that the findings are valid and the therapy is appropriate for your patient.
Beyond clinical scenarios, critical appraisal is also a key part of evidence synthesis. For example, as part of the systematic review process, articles included in the review are critically appraised for validity.
Critical appraisal checklists (or worksheets) are developed by various authoritative groups and are a step-by-step guide through the appraisal process. Any type of clinical study can be critically appraised, and each study type has its own checklist. There are many critical appraisal checklists out there, including the following sets:
As an example, the Randomized Controlled Trial Checklist from CASP includes questions about study methodology such as:
Critical appraisal can be conducted without the use of a formal checklist, but using an established set of appraisal criteria may be helpful if you are new to critical appraisal or want to ensure that you are being consistent in the way that you appraise clinical research. For more info on critical appraisal, email us at AskLibrary@nshealth.ca or book a one-on-one online consult with a librarian.
Reference:
The Cochrane Collaboration. (n.d.). Glossary. Retrieved from https://community.cochrane.org/glossary
Librarian Educator
0 Comments.