What factors feed in to an evidence-based decision? (4)
Why do we need evidence based medicine?
What is evidence-based medicine?
The process of identifying and using the most up-to-date and relevant evidence to inform decisions for individual patient problems
Outline the 5-step process of evidence-based medicine:
1) Converting the need for information into an answerable question (PICO)
2) Identifying the best evidence to answer that question
3) Critically appraising the evidence for its validity, impact and applicability
4) Integrating the critical appraisal with clinical expertise and the patient’s unique circumstances
5) Evaluating our effectiveness and efficiency in carrying out in steps 1-4, and seeking ways to improve them
What are the four essential components of a foreground question?
P - Patient / Problem
I - Intervention
C - Comparison Intervention (if relevant)
O - Clinical Outcome(s)
E.g. In younger women with breast cancer, is mastectomy with chemotherapy more effective than mastectomy alone, in reducing the risk of cancer recurrence?
What is the aim of a background question?
Seek general knowledge about a disorder
What is the aim of a foreground question?
Seek specific knowledge about managing patients with a disorder
What are the two essential components of a background question?
1) A question root: who, what, where, when…
2) A disorder or an aspect of a disorder
e.g. What causes breast cancer?
How does need for background and foreground questions vary over time?
What are the 5 components of the chain of infection?
What characteristics of the infectious agent influence who gets infected, how and why?
Describe modes of infection transmission:
Respiratory:
Ingestion:
Blood borne
Sexual
What characteristics of potential hosts influence who gets infected, how and why?
What is the motivation for global health?
- Enthusiasm to make a difference across borders
What is the 10/90 gap?
10% of global healthcare resources are allocated to 90% of the global population
What are the key words associated with the definition of global health?
Give 5 global issues that affect health globally:
What are the major functions of global health?
Why do we have innate immunity?
How might pathogens avoid complement activation?
- regulatory proteins
How might pathogens avoid phagocytosis?
- anti-phagocytic ‘toxins’
How might pathogens evade host defences?
What is the goal of active immunisation?
Induce a state of immunological readiness such that a first infection with a given pathogen is recognised as though it were the second infection
What is the goal of passive immunisation?
Transfer preformed immunological mediators into a normal individual to generate a state of enhance immunity