Although qualitative research is gaining recognition in medicine and in medical education, most clinical teachers do not know how to perform a critical appraisal of articles in these fields. This article describes a grid for the critical appraisal of qualitative research articles so that clinical teachers are in a better position to evaluate this type of research and to teach the critical appra...

In a number of important clinical issues such as evaluation of the efficacy or effectiveness of therapeutic or preventive interventions as well as for comparing the harms of interventions, randomized controlled trials (RCTs) provide the highest levels of evidence, either directly or indirectly. It is obvious that critical appraisal of these studies to assess their validity and precision is of p...

With a large output of medical literature coming out every year, it is impossible for readers to read every article. Critical appraisal of scientific literature is an important skill to be mastered not only by academic medical professionals but also by those involved in clinical practice. Before incorporating changes into the management of their patients, a thorough evaluation of the current or...

The ability to predict the difficult airway to preempt difficult intubation would decrease the most common damages seen in the administration of anaesthesia. Many tests have been put forth over the years, some necessitating detailed quantitative measurements like the sternomental distance, thyromental distance and inter-incisor gap but others like the upper lip bite test is of a qualitative nat...

J Jo ou ur rn na al l C Cl lu ub b D De et ta ai il ls s Date of submission Feb 2010 What is the role of allied health in the treatment of infants with feeding disorders which are related to maternal anxiety/mental health? Review Question/PICO/PACO P Infants aged 0-18 months with feeding disorder/problems related to maternal anxiety/mental health I Multidisciplinary allied health therapy C no i...

An effective schistosome vaccine is a desirable control tool but progress towards that goal has been slow. Protective immunity has been difficult to demonstrate in humans, particularly children, so no routes to a vaccine have emerged from that source. The concept of concomitant immunity appeared to offer a paradigm for a vaccine operating against incoming larvae in the skin but did not yield th...