Sample questions from EBM Task Force Summative Evaluation Tool [as supplied by author]

1. For each of the following resources, please evaluate the following with respect to answering specific, clinical questions that you may have when seeing patients…

 

(1)     The frequency of your current use of the listed resource.
  N R M W D
  Never  Rarely   Monthly  Weekly Daily
(2)     Your comfort level using the resource.
  1 2 3 4 5
  Very
Uncomfortable
 		 Somewhat
Comfortable		 Neutral Somewhat
Comfortable		 Very
Comfortable
(3)     How easy is it to access the specified resource in your current work environment.
  1 2 3 4 5
  Very
Difficult		 Somewhat
Difficult		 Neutral Somewhat
Easy		 Very
Easy

a. MEDLINE
b. COCHRANE database
c. Asking a consultant
d. Best Evidence®
e. MD-Consult®
f.  Asking a peer              

 

3.  You are currently an attending on the wards and taking care of a 44 year old woman who was admitted with an asthma exacerbation. She is currently doing well with bronchodilators and steroids, but the resident states that she was given intravenous magnesium in the ER 'for her asthma'.

 

Please write down as clearly and precisely as possible the ONE question whose answer you think will help the resident decide if this (the magnesium) was an appropriate treatment choice for this patient.
 

 
 
 

10. Another article that you have recently looked at states that the relative risk reduction of dying from heart failure for patients treated with enalapril when compared to placebo is 11% (95 percent confidence interval, 8 to 14%, p<0.0001).

Circle the ONE statement that best describes the meaning of the 95% confidence interval with respect to this finding:

  1. If this study were repeated several times, there is a 95% chance that the relative risk reduction for death due to heart failure in that study would be between 8 and 14%.
  1. Incomplete data collection for this study meant that the relative risk reduction for death due to heart failure could only be estimated (with 895% confidence) as somewhere between 8 and 14%.
  1. There is a 95% chance that the “true” relative risk reduction for death due to heart failure lies between 8 and 14% in patients treated with enalapril.
  1. There is a 5% chance that the relative risk reduction for death due to heart failure is more than 14% in patients treated with enalapril.

11.      In another abstract you find that there are adverse effects of a therapy “x”. In the study you find that “x” causes dyspepsia in 25% of patients, compared with 15% of patients in the control arm. The study occurred over 1 year. 

Given this finding, how many patients in your clinic will you need to treat over a year with “x” in order to cause one patient to have dyspepsia?

 a)       4 patients
 b)       7 patients
 c)       10 patients
 d)       25 patients