Skip to Main Content

Bastyr Center for Natural Health (BCNH) Residents' Resources: Evaluating Research

Search tips and links for the most useful clinical resources; citation management resources to "complete the research circle".

Standard Textbooks

Users' Guides to the Medical Literature (JAMA) by Gordon Guyatt; Drummond Rennie; Deborah Cook; Maureen Meade The most comprehensive guide to the principles and clinical applications of evidence-based medicine; created by editors affiliated with the Journal of the American Medical Assn.
ISBN: 9780071590341
Publication Date: 2008 (new ed. expected Oct. 2014)
How to Read a Paper by Trisha Greenhalgh Demystifies evidence-based medicine and explains how to critically appraise published research and how to put the findings into practice.
Call Number: R118.6 .G74 2014
ISBN: 1118800966
Publication Date: 2014-04-07

Useful Articles for Evaluating Studies

Simplifying the language of evidence to improve patient care Presents a patient-centered approach to grading evidence in the medical literature. Ebell, M. et al. (2004) Journal of Family Practice, 53/2: p. 111-120.
Refining clinical diagnosis with liklihood ratios Explains how to take likelihood rations beyond diagnosis into patient care. Grimes, D. and Schultz, K. (2005) Lancet, 365: p. 1500-1505.

Evidence Based Glossary

Evidence-based Glossary

Check It Out!! Medical Statistics Made Easy - Videos by Dr. Joshua Goldenberg, ND

DrJournalClub.com Family practitioner Dr. Joshua Goldenberg, ND, presents informative (AND entertaining) videos evaluating research studies and EBM techniques to improve clinical decision-making.

More Medical Statistics Videos

Evaluation of Diagnostic Tests Sensitivity, Specificity, PPV & NPV. Created by John P. Shand.
Likelihood Ratios This video describes the role of likelihood ratios in diagnostic testing. Created by Terry Shaneyfelt, University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine.
Number Needed to Treat A tutorial of the NNT, or the Number Needed to Treat, a biostatistics term to compare efficacy of different medications. Created by Graham Walker.
Odds Ratio, Relative Risk Odds Ratio and Relative Risk are examined in epidemiological context. Odds ratio can mislead if a "Common Event" is studied, since it can exaggerate effects. Relative risk is appropriate for randomized control studies and cohort studies. Created by HelpHippo.com
Randomness, uncertainty and chance Oxford mathematician Peter Donnelly reveals the common mistakes humans make in interpreting statistics -- and the devastating impact these errors can have on the outcome of criminal trials. TEDglobal 2005.
Sensitivity and Specificity A video-animation presentation about medical testing. While many patients just ASSUME that test results are always correct, this is not the case. This video explains some key facts about medical testing. This video is part of the breast cancer education series produced by CancerQuest at Emory University.
Sensitivity Specificity: Easy Epidemiology Difference Spin Snout Test A tutorial teaching sensitivity vs. specificity, including SPIN and SNOUT mnemonics. Learn the difference between sensitive and specific tests, for medical health science students. Created by HelpHippo.com

Forms For Evaluating Studies

How to Rate Risk of Bias in Randomized Controlled Trials Content provided by Gordon Guyatt, physician and Distinguished University Professor in the Departments of Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics and Medicine at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. See also: Tool to Assess Risk of Bias (linked from the webpage above)
CEBM Critical Appraisal Worksheets Helps you assess prognosis, diagnosis, and therapy studies as well as systematic reviews. Also has other useful evaluation tools. (Centre for Evidence Based Medicine, University of Toronto)
Dartmouth's EBM Worksheets Critical appraisal worksheets for a variety of study types including: RCTs, systematic reviews, diagnostic tests, harm/etiology, and qualitative research..

CA Campus Address: Library Bastyr University 4106 Sorrento Valley Blvd. San Diego, CA 92121 Phone:(858) 246-9714 | Email: buclibrary@bastyr.edu | Text:(425) 947-2486

WA Campus Address: Library Bastyr University 14500 Juanita Dr NE Kenmore, WA 98028 | Phone:(425) 602-3020 | Email:library@bastyr.edu | Text:(425) 947-2486 | Chat: Chat with a Librarian

Bastyr Library content may be used, remixed, tweaked, and built upon non-commercially, as long as BU is credited, and new creations are licensed under the identical terms.