Understanding Clinical Papers [Paperback]

David Bowers (Author), Allan House (Author), David Owens (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0470091304 | ISBN-13: 978-0470091302 | Publication Date: June 20, 2006 | Edition: 2

Now in its Second Edition, this book helps to unravel the process of evidence-based practice, which requires clinicians to evaluate and collate information from the journals they read. Understanding Clinical Papers, Second Edition uses actual papers to illustrate how to understand and evaluate published research, but goes beyond this to provide an explanation of a range of important research-related topics.

Understanding Clinical Papers, Second Edition:

• Covers everything necessary to understand a clinical research paper
• Examples are illustrated and based uniquely on tables, abstracts and exerts from published clinical research papers
• Amazingly clear, lively, accessible style
• The new edition has been markedly improved and extended, containing, for example, new material on measurement scales, systematic reviews, writing a paper, statistics software and critical appraisal

“What strikes the reader... straight away is clarity… promises to become a recommended text for undergraduate and postgraduate courses." JOURNAL OF TROPICAL PEDIATRICS

“The writing style is amazingly clear and does not require formal course work in biostatistics or epidemiology…We strongly recommend it for beginners and for easy entry into a complex domain and to experts who we think will enjoy it and who will find it useful as they teach, advise and help others.” QUALITY IN HEALTH CARE 

“What makes this book unique is that each point presented is illustrated with excerpts from actual papers, often three or four per chapter... this is a very effective teaching device." JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION

“This book should be an essential addition to the personal libraries of all health care workers who need to use articles in journals. In these days of evidence-based medicine, this should apply to all physicians, nurses and other health professionals.” ONCOLOGY

Understanding Clinical Papers, Second Edition is an invaluable resource for everyone involved directly or indirectly in health care – an ultimate guide for those who read clinical literature.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Reading it will definitely enhance one's ability to distinguish the robust from the not so robust. Worthy of space in a departmental library." (UROLOGY NEWS, July 2010)

"…an excellent basis for all who intend to write scientific texts as well as those reading, evaluating, and trying to understand the results…" (Clinical Chemistry, May 2007)

"What makes this book unique is that each point presented is illustrated with excerpts from actual papers, often three or four per chapter...this is a very effective teaching device." (Journal of the American Medical Association, December 26, 2006)

"This should be quite useful to the intended audience." (Doody's Health Services)

"What strikes the reader ... straight away is clarity … promises to become a recommended text for undergraduate and postgraduate courses." (Journal of Tropical Pediatrics, September 2006)

From the Back Cover

Now in its second edition this book helps to unravel the process of evidence-based practice which requires clinicians to evaluate and collate information from the journals they read. The book uses actual papers to illustrate how to understand and evaluate published research, but goes beyond this to provide an explanation of a range of important research-related topics.

This second edition has been markedly improved and extended, not only with the inclusion of a considerable amount of completely new material (including a chapter on measurement scales), but with a major sharpening of the existing text to improve clarity and flow. In addition, many of the examples taken from the literature have been updated to maintain the book's contemporary focus.

"The great strength of this book lies in the lively and accessible way in which it is written, making it particularly appealing to its target audience of practitioners and clinicians. Dealing with an already well-covered topic which can be dry and unpalatable, the authors manage to present their material in a colourful and interesting way. The language is clear and readable. It is well-structured, logically mirroring the sequence of good quality papers. The examples from studies are well chosen, interesting and at times entertaining in themselves. References are informative and help to contextualise the information. This is a most useful book which I would recommend in particular for students of all disciplines and practitioners involved in research activity." Accident & Emergency Nursing

"This book should be an essential addition to the personal libraries of all health care workers who need to use articles in journals. In these days of evidence-based medicine, this should apply to all physicians, nurses and other health professionals." Oncology

"The writing style is amazingly clear and does not require formal course work in biostatistics or epidemiology.... We strongly recommend it for beginners and for easy entry into a complex domain and to experts who we think will enjoy it and who will find it useful as they teach, advise and help others." Quality in Health Care

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 244 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 2 edition (June 20, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470091304
• ISBN-13: 978-0470091302
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 7.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #644,885 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good book for pre-meds, September 17, 2004

By 

Diane E. Suter - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Understanding Clinical Papers (Paperback)

I'm teaching a class on understanding the clinical literature to Master's level pre-medical students. This book does a good job of describing the basics of the different kinds of clinical studies and the statistics appropriate for each one. Anyone who's really into research or statistics will find this book too basic, but it's a good starting point for pre-meds or docs with no research experience. The examples are a little annoying, because it takes a while to absorb the content in each one--long walks for short drinks. Re-usiing the same examples in different places would have worked better.