title: Prospective, controlled assessment of the impact of formal evidence-based medicine teaching workshop on ability to appraise the medical literature.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The ability to critically appraise the calibre of studies in medical literature is increasingly important for medical professionals.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This prospective controlled study evaluated the impact of a 6-h Evidence Based Medicine (EBM) Workshop on the critical appraisal skills of medical trainees.
  
  
  METHODS
  Individuals attended three 2-h workshops over a 3-week period, incorporating didactic lectures in statistics, clinical trial design, appraising research papers and practical examples. Appraisal skills were assessed pre- and post-training based on grading the quality of randomised control studies (level 1 evidence), cohort studies (level 2 evidence) and case-control studies (level 3 evidence) [From Oxford Centre for Evidence Based Medicine Levels of Evidence (2001), http://www.cebm.net/critical_appraisal.asp ].
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall grading improved from 39% (pre-course) to 74% (post-course), P = 0.002, with grading of levels 1, 2 and 3 studies improving from 42 to 75%, 53 to 61% and 21 to 84%, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We conclude that a 6-h formal EBM workshop is effective in enhancing the critical appraisal skills of medical trainees.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Beaumont Hospital, Dublin, Ireland. harewood.gavin@gmail.com
authors.forename: G C
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Harewood
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Hendrick
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence; D003479:Curriculum; D004493:Education / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004503:Education, Medical, Graduate; D004521:Educational Measurement; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine / Q000193:education*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007494:Ireland; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013337:Students, Medical
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