Research & Evidence-Based Practice Flashcards

According to the hierarchy of evidence, which source provides the strongest level of evidence for clinical decision-making?

Answer: Systematic review with meta-analysis

Systematic reviews with meta-analysis synthesize findings from multiple high-quality studies, providing the strongest and most reliable evidence at the top of the evidence hierarchy.

A 95% confidence interval for a mean difference of 5.2 is reported as (1.4, 9.0). What does this mean?

Answer: We are 95% confident the true mean difference falls between 1.4 and 9.0

A 95% confidence interval means that if the study were repeated many times, 95% of the calculated intervals would contain the true population mean difference.

Which statistic is used in a meta-analysis to represent the combined effect of multiple studies?

Answer: Pooled effect size

A pooled effect size (such as a weighted mean difference or odds ratio) combines results from multiple individual studies in a meta-analysis to produce an overall estimate.

In evidence-based practice, the acronym PICO stands for:

Answer: Patient, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome

PICO (Patient/Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome) is a framework used to structure clinical questions and guide literature searches in evidence-based practice.

Which type of reliability measures the consistency of a test or tool across two administrations to the same group over time?

Answer: Test-retest reliability

Test-retest reliability assesses the stability of a measurement instrument by administering the same test to the same participants at two different time points and correlating the scores.

A nurse critically appraises a study and notes that patients were not randomly assigned to groups. The study's internal validity is most threatened by:

Answer: Selection bias

Without randomization, pre-existing differences between groups (selection bias) can confound the results, making it unclear whether the intervention or the group differences caused the outcome.

Which of the following best describes the concept of 'Number Needed to Treat' (NNT)?

Answer: The number of patients who must be treated to prevent one additional adverse outcome

NNT is a clinical measure indicating how many patients need to receive a treatment to prevent one additional adverse outcome compared to a control group.