5 elements of Critical Appraisal
Research question Design of a study Study's validity Study's result Generalizability or Applicability
Research question
PICO Patient/Population Intervention/Exposure Comparison Outcome
Secondary questions/outcome
Study design
RCT Gold design Controlled trial - not randomized Prospective cohort study Retrospective cohort study Case control study Cross sectional study
Validity
Results are true for the sample studied
Search for bias
Results
Descriptive statistics Comparison/inferential statistics Text, tables and graphs Point estimates Standard deviation, confidence interval
Generalizability/applicability
Applicability to my patient
If not, which patient could be applied to in the future
Does outcome really matters
Can I use these results
Average half life of scientific fact
7 years