Skip to Main Content

Evidence-Based Nursing Practice Guide

A LibGuide

Understanding Evidence

  • Does the treatment really  work? 
  • Have the study authors really proved that a treatment doesn't work? 
  • These articles help you  interpret conclusions in a research article.  

The Absence of Evidence is not Evidence of Absence  (British Medical Journal)

  •  Editorial 

An Invisible Unicorn has been Grazing in my Office for a Month.... Prove me Wrong. (Evidently Cochrane)

  • Blog posts discuss critical evaluation of evidence in the literature. 

Evaluating Web Resources

From the University of Minnesota

Toolkits for Critical Evaluation

  • These are usually designed to be comprehensive packages, with a different tool for different types of journal articles.
  • The first three were designed primarily for physicians.
  • Johns Hopkins has a package of tools expressly designed for Nurses and Nurse PractitioneTools “for identifying, assessing and applying relevant evidence for better health care decision-making.
  • Appraisal tools are adapted from the Users' Guides series prepared by the Evidence Based Medicine Working Group and originally published in JAMA".
  • Many different tools are offered including critical analysis of both journal articles and systematic reviews.. 
  • This toolkit is one of the first and simplest to use.
  •  

CASP  (Critical Appraisals Skills Programme) Checklists for Research Papers

  • CASP offers a series on eight checklists to help a reader critically appraise different kinds of research papers.
  • Brief explanations of each type of paper.are also offered.

The formats are very clear.  All the downloads are on the same page.  A user can either print out the checklist or complete it online.  

Johns Hopkins Nursing Evidence-Based Practice©
 

This is a selection of a complete set of their toolkit.

Special tools for specific critical review types

Qualitative Evidence Synthesis template (Cochrane Library)

This template has two uses:

  • To help you write up your own qualitative research
  • To evaluate an existing qualitative  research study
  • The template comes with an extensive manual with detailed instructions for use.

 

PRISMA Transparent Reporting of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses

  • "PRISMA is an evidence-based minimum set of items for reporting in Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyse
  • PRISMA focuses on the reporting of reviews evaluating randomized trials.
  • It can also be used as a basis for reporting systematic reviews of other types of research, particularly evaluations of interventions."
 

EBP Checklists for Article Evaluation

  • Collection of EBP practice checklists to analyze various types of articles.
  • It is put together from various sources by the University of Glasgow.

 

Economic Analysis Appraisal Guide

  • From the University of Alberta EBM toolkit,
  • Offers an approach to appraising articles of economic analysis.

 

How to read a QUALITATIVE research paper:

Papers that go beyond numbers (Qualitative Research)

  • This is part of the BMJ's collection on how to read research paper.\
  • Specifically about qualitative research .

 

JBI (Joanna Briggs Institute) Critical Appraisal Tools

  • No longer available on line in the Medical Research Library

Tools for Guideline Evalauation

Clinical Practice Guideline Appraisal Tools

  • This is a revision of some older tools
  • Easy to use
  • Found in th National Medical Library

Agree II ToolKit

  • Agree II Toolkit  is a comprehensive toolkit used to evaluate clinical guidelines.
  • Sponsored by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research
  • Includes an extensive manual for each term used.