Studying a Study and Testing a Test: How to Read the Medical Evidence (With CD-ROM for Windows & Macintosh) [Paperback]

Richard K. Riegelman (Author), Riegelman (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0781718600 | ISBN-13: 978-0781718608 | Publication Date: January 15, 2000 | Edition: 4th

Now in its Fourth Edition, this best selling text presents a step by step approach to critical and efficient reading of the health research literature. Health care professionals will learn how to evaluate clinical studies, identify flaws in study design, understand the significance of statistics, and apply the evidence from clinical research in practice. A new section in this edition - Considering Costs and Evaluating Effectiveness - offers guidance in reading articles on decision analysis and cost effectiveness analysis. Throughout the text are unique learning aids such as checklists of questions to ask, scenarios illustrating study design errors, flaw catching exercises, and flowcharts for assessing statistical methods. The Fourth Edition includes for the first time a CD-ROM with interactive questions and answers. Users who complete these questions can earn up to 70 hours of Category 1 Continuing Medical Education credit. CME Objectives: Target Audience : Physicians, public health professionals, health educators, health services and administration professionals, physician assistants, health science libraries, nurse practitioners, and others who find themselves faced with health research information overload. Learning Objectives / After completing this activity the user should be able to: Specifically, participants who complete this course will find their medical decision making skills strengthened by the enhanced ability to: Critically evaluate clinical research using a unique uniform framework Identify flaws in a variety of study designs, including case control, cohort, randomized clinical trials, and meta-analysis Understand the uses of statistics without the use of complicated formulas Apply results of clinical research to your practice using the principles of evidence-based medicine Accreditation Statement Lippincott Williams & Wilkins is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to sponsor continuing medical education for physicians. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins designates this continuing medical education activity for up to 70 hours in Category 1 of the Physician's Recognition Award of the American Medical Association. Each physician should claim only those hours of credit that he/she actually spends in the activity

Product Details

• Paperback: 356 pages
• Publisher: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 4th edition (January 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0781718600
• ISBN-13: 978-0781718608
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,267,510 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Found very very useful; turns out you have to READ it, May 11, 2008

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Bruce_in_LA "reader_in_LA" (los angeles, ca United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

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This review is from: Studying a Study and Testing a Test: How to Read the Medical Evidence (Core Handbook Series in Pediatrics) (Paperback)

I bought this book 18 months ago and never cracked it til last week. I have worked as a Medicare medical director for five years, and someone should have given each of us this book the day we started. It is a very good survey of how to assess clinical trials. You will not finish this book and then plan trials for "big pharma" nor will you have a PhD in statistics (one recent reviewer of this book at Amazon was appalled by what he found to be several semantic errors or math errors - let's bear in mind the book has thrived through 5 editions and the author has a PhD from Johns Hopkins.) But if you are thinking about what makes clinical trials "tick" and you want a thorough (300 pp) but not numbing viewpoint, this is an excellent book. I also found the book very well written, I was able to go through 50 pages at a pop and felt I was really absorbing it. Embarassingly, considering jobs I have held, I would have been hesitant to give a concise explanation of a "case control" versus "cohort" study and Riegelman makes this sort of distinction fundamental and clear early one without belaboring how important it is (you can tell how important it is). The author, Riegelman, is a senior professor at the Geo Washington Univ School of Medicine. The book is intended for medical students (smart insightful ones), MPH students, those reviewing/evaluating the clinical literature (the evidence-based-medicine world). He explains things in a way that makes you think you'll remember it for years. For a different style and result(imagine you are actually designing a clinical trial in your niche of medicine from Step A to Step Z) see the Brian Hayes/David Sackett books (several versions) on "clinical epidemiology" or "evidence based medicine."

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great book for med students/residents, November 1, 2008

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Peds Resident - See all my reviews

This review is from: Studying a Study and Testing a Test: How to Read the Medical Evidence (Core Handbook Series in Pediatrics) (Paperback)

A wonderful book to help out with all those journal clubs and intro epi courses we have to take. I used it in medical school and continue to use it during residency. I refer to it before journal clubs and before discussing studies with medical students. Easy to read, concise, great overview of the subject! Highly reccomended!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Studying a Study and Testing a Test, April 19, 2010

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K. Pelch "Katie P" (Columbia, MO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Studying a Study and Testing a Test: How to Read the Medical Evidence (With CD-ROM for Windows & Macintosh) (Paperback)

Great book that was really helpful as I was reviewing the literature and preparing to write a grant proposal.