Saturday, February 2, 2013

Comparison of Alternative Evidence Summary and Presentation Formats in Clinical Guideline Development: A Mixed-Method Study.




HubMed - Alternative Health





Comparison of Alternative Evidence Summary and Presentation Formats in Clinical Guideline Development: A Mixed-Method Study.



PLoS One. 2013; 8(1): e55067
Opiyo N, Shepperd S, Musila N, Allen E, Nyamai R, Fretheim A, English M

BACKGROUND: Best formats for summarising and presenting evidence for use in clinical guideline development remain less well defined. We aimed to assess the effectiveness of different evidence summary formats to address this gap. METHODS: Healthcare professionals attending a one-week Kenyan, national guideline development workshop were randomly allocated to receive evidence packaged in three different formats: systematic reviews (SRs) alone, systematic reviews with summary-of-findings tables, and 'graded-entry' formats (a 'front-end' summary and a contextually framed narrative report plus the SR). The influence of format on the proportion of correct responses to key clinical questions, the primary outcome, was assessed using a written test. The secondary outcome was a composite endpoint, measured on a 5-point scale, of the clarity of presentation and ease of locating the quality of evidence for critical neonatal outcomes. Interviews conducted within two months following completion of trial data collection explored panel members' views on the evidence summary formats and experiences with appraisal and use of research information. RESULTS: 65 (93%) of 70 participants completed questions on the prespecified outcome measures. There were no differences between groups in the odds of correct responses to key clinical questions. 'Graded-entry' formats were associated with a higher mean composite score for clarity and accessibility of information about the quality of evidence for critical neonatal outcomes compared to systematic reviews alone (adjusted mean difference 0.52, 95% CI 0.06 to 0.99). There was no difference in the mean composite score between SR with SoF tables and SR alone. Findings from interviews with 16 panelists indicated that short narrative evidence reports were preferred for the improved clarity of information presentation and ease of use. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that 'graded-entry' evidence summary formats may improve clarity and accessibility of research evidence in clinical guideline development. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Controlled-Trials.com ISRCTN05154264.








Google Videos - Electro Acupuncture






ETPS is a unit tha is being used for needleless electro acupuncture. The Canadian Chapter of the AACP is proud to have Dr. David Shirazi comes to ...

youtube.com








HubMed - Electro Acupuncture





The compact electro-acupuncture system for multi-modal feedback electro-acupuncture treatment.



Conf Proc IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 2012 Aug; 2012: 3265-8
Song K, Lee H, Hong S, Cho H, Yoo HJ

The compact electro-acupuncture (EA) system is proposed for the multi-modal feedback EA treatment. It is composed of a needle, a smart patch, and an interconnecting conductive thread. The 3cm diameter compact EA patch is implemented with the EA controller integrated circuit (IC) and the small coin battery on the planar-fashionable circuit board (P-FCB) technology. It can achieve the user convenience and the low manufacturing cost at once by removing the wire connections. The EA controller IC programs the stimulation current and also monitors the electromyography (EMG) and the skin temperature during the EA stimulation. The measured data can be wirelessly transmitted to the external EA analyzer through the body channel communication with low power consumption. The external EA analyzer can check the patient's status, such as the muscle fatigue and the change of the skin temperature, and the practitioner can change the stimulation parameters for the optimal curative value. The proposed compact EA system is fully implemented and tested on the human body.







No comments: