MSc -M229 Evidence Based Practice Module

framing a question (or one major question and a subsidiary question) arising from one clinical scenario in the course of the your current or past professional work, usually related to diagnosis, therapy and harm or prognosis
searching for relevant evidence from appropriate sources, using evidence filter when appropriate
critically appraising ONE major appropriate and relevant study or guideline for validity and applicability to the problem encountered by you, or ONE major and a subsidiary study or guideline of a contrasting type. Appropriate types of study or guidelines may include:-
- diagnostic study
- clinical trials
- systematic review
- prognostic study
- decision analysis
- major guidelines
You must critically appraise the major study as a structured essay. However, you may summarise your appraisal the subsidiary study using tables if you wish.
evaluating whether and how the study or guideline chosen can be applied to your professional practice. You will be given examples of these processes relating to diagnosis, therapy and prognosis during the module. You will also be given appraisal tools relating to each of these types of studies and guidelines which will show you how to critically appraise them. You should include your chosen study in your bibliography. The word count does not include the bibliography.
critically assessing the organisational factors and the actual or potential barriers in the implementation of the evidence. You should base your arguments on appropriate literature.

Part 2- Short answer questions

This part consists of SIX short sections (5 marks each). Your answer should be less than 1,500 words maximum in total - it can be fully answered in about 900 words)

You will be given seven sections of very short exercises during your last session on 12 December 2001 on each of the following areas:-
1. Diagnosis
2. Treatment and harm (clinical trial)
3. Systematic review
4. Prognosis
5. Information technology - finding information
6. Information technology - communication aspects
7. Decision analysis

You should answer six of the following 7 short answer sections, leaving out the section which corresponds with the main paper used in your structured essay question.

The short answer questions consist of simple interpretation and application of evidence to a given scenario relating to these areas, with emphasis on the understanding of evidence-based practice terms taught during the module. They are used mainly to test criteria listed below, and to ensure that students have understood a reasonable proportion of the course material.

The final copy of the "short answer questions" part of the assignment has been given out on 13 December.

Examples of assignments from previous students can be downloaded from the restricted resources page.

General guidelines and assessment criteria

For the structured essay, a good answer will reflect the following qualities ·

briefly state the problem and frame a focused answerable question
state where and how appropriate evidence was found (i.e. give source of evidence and search strategy) to identify ONE most relevant study (or ONE major study on the main question and ONE subsidiary study of a contrasting type)
critically and briefly appraise the study for validity using appraisal tools and applicability to the student's scenario
evaluate whether and how the results of the study can be applied to the student's practice
assess the organisational factors and the actual or potential barriers in the implementation of the evidence

For the short exercises, they are designed to test for

an understanding of the terms used in evidence-based practice (e.g. NNT, positive predictive values etc)
the ability to apply evidence to a given scenario.
the ability to find information and communicate using information technology, and to reflect on its potential use.

Submission deadline: 5:00 p.m. 23 January 2002

This page is created and maintained by Wai-Ching Leung
e-mail:- wp102@yahoo.com
last modified 15 October 2001