Evidence-synthesis: Yes, it is important

The word evidence synthesis may not be the most thrilling word you can come up with. Nevertheless, it is an important word that everyone should know about. Here is why. There is a stacking amount of scientific research being published every year. In fact, a study by the University...
Using GRADE to assess the quality of preclinical research

There is immense amount of preclinical research being conducted every day, all with the goal to potentially improve clinical practice. Preclinical research has its pros and cons compared to clinical work. On the positive side, it allows you to thoroughly assess pathophysiological mechanisms, to evaluate potential harm and to...
Missing data in diagnostic accuracy studies – what to do?

Lets say you are working on a systematic review concerning diagnostic accurary. You are well on your way, but then it turns out that some essential data that you need for your data extraction, is not reported in the paper. What to do? There are ways to get around...
Pulje til udvikling af Nationale Kliniske Retningslinjer (NKR) (danish only)

Er du en del af et fagligt selskab eller fagligt miljø og har du et ønske om at udvikle evidensbaseret nationale kliniske retningslinjer? Så kan I nu via Sundhedsstyrelsen søge om puljemidler til dette. Se mere på Sundhedsstyrelsens hjemmeside. Har I behov for metodehjælp til dette? Se listen over...
Something new for your toolbox – Cochrane Risk of Bias 2.0

For those currently using Cochrane Risk of bias tool for assessing individual studies – listen up!. There is a new version. The 2.0 version is similar to the one you are familiar with, however there are some changes that you might want to have a look at. Some changes...
The Evidence Ecosystem – reducing waste of evidence

Even though there has been advances in ways to promote evidence-based health care, it is still a challenge to actually get the high quality evidence to the patient. We briefly touched the subject in a post regarding BMJ Rapid Recs – an approach to getting the newest evidence quickly...
Rapid recommendations

Incorporating the newest research into clinical guidelines is challenging. It takes times constructing a guideline, and as a consequence, some guidelines may already be outdated before they reach the patient. This is were the BMJ rapid recommendations come into play. These rapid recommendations seek to accelerate the process, by...
Is your guideline getting into the clinic?

Evaluating the methodological construction of a guideline is one thing, but what about the clinical credibility and implementability of a guideline? A previous review by Kastner et al 2015 showed that how guidelines are developed and written essentially influences how often they are being used. The review goes through...
What is the impact of research? – a podcast

The following is a podcast on what influence research has on society from the center for Evidence-Based Medicine in Oxford. Is the research being done actually useful and does it have an impact? What is the difference between academic and societal impact? Here are some food for thought. Research...
Strong and weak recommendations – in need of a direction

Evidence-based recommendations are constructed to aid decision-making, by combining the available evidence with clinical practice. However, when the evidence is low to very low, this often results in weak recommendations. In a medical situation, getting a straight answer is essential, so the questions arises – are these kind...