Creating an Evidence Based Practice
Presented by Frank Underwood
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If you consider only the Journal of Orthopaedic and Sports Physical Therapy, the International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy, and Physical Therapy in Sport as relevant sources of new information, you have about 25 research reports plus case studies, musculoskeletal imaging reports, position statements, and so on, to read every month. Who has time to keep up and to sort the credible information from the fluff? The purpose of this course is to provide you with the tools necessary to critically appraise the validity of information in research related to diagnostic testing and intervention. When approached in a logical, systematic manner, rapid extraction of necessary information is possible even for the busy clinician. After an overview, the course will address specific information related to diagnostic testing and intervention studies, using recent research as examples.
Meet your instructor
Frank Underwood
After serving in the Army as a helicopter crew chief, Frank Underwood completed his undergraduate degree with a major in Biology from Central Missouri State University. He then completed the U.S. Army-Baylor University Graduate Program in Physical Therapy. After 6 years as a clinician in Kansas and Berlin, Germany, Dr.…
Chapters & learning objectives
1. Critical Appraisal of Research
In this chapter, Dr. Underwood instructs and challenges participants to construct a clinical question specific to a patient or problem in PICO (or PECOT) format, and identify resources in order to find evidence that will answer the question. Special emphasis is placed on determining where crucial information can be found in a research report to answer the question posted, as well as differentiating and calculating the validity of posted clinical test results to determine pathology.
2. Appraisal of Diagnostic Test Research
Join Dr. Underwood as he differentiates a gold standard from a target test, and instructs participants on how to establish the validity of a clinical test and calculate relevant statistics given the results from a study. Topics to be covered include the principles of SpPin and SnNout, the use of likelihood rations to adjust the probability of a disorder, and the impact of the Law of at Least One on the diagnostic process.
3. Appraisal of Interventions
Chapter three describes the key elements of a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT). Participants will learn to identify threats to the internal validity of a RCT. They will also calculate and interpret the statistics for dichotomous outcomes and decipher the statistics for continuous outcomes for statistical significance and clinical importance.
4. Q & A
In this Q&A session, participants will learn to apply the principles of evidence based practices to a patient by conducting a live web search on PubMed for relevant supporting research for a patient case, and implementing the fundamentals of thorough research analysis to make an accurate diagnosis/intervention strategy.