Critical Appraisal of the Literature (Critical Appraisal Tools)

摘要

Teaching the incorporation of evidence-based medicine (EBM) into clinical decision-making is the major goal of this series. The first article defined and introduced the process of EBM. (1) The second two articles in the series introduced the first two steps and tools used in the EBM process, which are to develop an answerable question (2) and then to conduct an evidence-based search. (3) Before integrating this knowledge into clinical decision-making, the found information must be tested for validity. This third step in the EBM process is referred to commonly as critical appraisal. Critical appraisal forms the bridge between finding relevant data and applying the information to clinical practice.