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Evidence-based medicine and dentistry |
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Clinical effectiveness Using clinical interventions which have been shown to be effective both by research and audit.
The ‘gold standard’ for research is a well planned randomised controlled clinical trial (RCCT). Where this is not available clinicians should continue to evaluate their techniques and keep up to date with the current literature and research.
Systemic reviews This is a method of collating and assessing the results of research on a particular topic. This implies that a thorough search for suitable articles and indeed unpublished work has been made and each article assessed by a criteria to decide whether it should be included.
Meta-analysis A systemic review which uses special statistical methods to combine the results of several studies. Only RCCT should be included.
The Cochrane collaboration The aim of this collaboration is to bring together results of systematic reviews in all areas of health care and keeping the information up to date. The results of this work can be accessed electronically via the Cochrane library which is available quarterly on computer disc, CD-ROM and the internet.
Clinical guidelines Systematically developed statements which assist clinicians and patients in making decisions about appropriate treatment for specific conditions. They may be developed locally or nationally, but should always be seen as a guidance and are therefore aids to, but not substitutes for, clinical judgement. To be effective, clinical guidelines should be brief, practical and based on the results of sound research. They should be regularly reviewed in light of new research and their effectiveness audited. Clinically guidelines in dentistry are being co-ordinated by the Royal Colleges and / or specialist societies.
Clinical Governance This is a new concept— ‘a framework for continuously improving the quality of service an safeguarding high standards of care by creating an environment in which excellence in clinical care will florish’. This entails medical audit, peer review etc. |
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Making clinical decisions based on the best available evidence |