Advice for evaluating
- Read the guidelines
- Use the RCVS EBVM Toolkit resource to first identify the study type and then to go to the appropriate check list for assessing the quality of evidence
- Other resources provide a range of additional reading
RCVS Knowledge
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Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) Knowledge has resources to support evidence-based clinical decision-making in veterinary science. |
Their EBVM toolkit site has simple factsheets and checklists to help with:
Data extraction forms
- Beauvais W, Cardwell JM, Brodbelt DC. The effect of neutering on the risk of mammary tumours in dogs – a systematic review. J Small Anim Pract 2012;53:314-322.27Students are recommended to look at the Beauvais et al (2012) study to view an example of how you might present your findings from retrieved studies including tables of extracted data.
Check guidelines for other references that may be useful
EBVM Toolkit
The EBVM toolkit webpages offer information and specific checklists that we recommend students use for evaluation of quality of evidence:
- https://knowledge.rcvs.org.uk/evidence-based-veterinary-medicine/ebvm-toolkit/
- Review information
- Use EBVM Toolkit 4 to help determine the type of study for each of your papers
- Then go to the relevant EBVM toolkit checklist for that study and use the checklist to answer questions about quality of evidence for that paper.
- Put the checklist table in your report
Other resources
How to perform a systematic literature review by Publication Date: 2020
Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions by Publication Date: 2022(v.6.3 online handbook)
Doing a Systematic Review: A student's guide by Publication Date: 2017
Systematic searching: practical ideas for improving results by Publication Date: 2019
Practical clinical epidemiology for the veterinarian by Publication Date: 2015Ch 2: Basic Epidemiology concepts. Ch 3: Evidence-based medicine for the vet.
How to Read a Paper: the basics of evidence-based medicine and healthcarePublication Date: 2019Ch 4: Assessing Methodological Quality is useful for assessing 'risk of bias'
Statistics for Veterinary and Animal Science by Publication Date: 2013Ch 5: 'Experimental design and clinical trials' 5.2 Types of study (includes discussion of Relative Risk and Odds Ratio) Ch 18: Critical Appraisal of Reported Studies (examples)
Understanding Nursing Research by Publication Date: 2018Ch 13 - the sections regarding systematic reviews.
Users' Guides to the Medical Literature: a Manual for Evidence-Based Clinical Practice, 3E by Call Number: RA427 .U84 2015Publication Date: 2014
Evidence-Based Medicine by Publication Date: 2018
Humongous book of statistics problems by Publication Date: 2009Margin notes simplify tricky concepts and show worked solutions.
- Sargeant & O'Connor articleSargeant JM, O'Connor AM. Conducting systematic reviews of intervention questions ii: Relevance screening, data extraction, assessing risk of bias, presenting the results and interpreting the findings. Zoonoses Public Hlth 2014;61:39-51.
- Cochrane templateCochrane's data extraction and assessment form for intervention RCTs can be used as a template for creating your own form.
- PRISMA checklistThe checklist is useful for guidance on all the elements required in the final report.
- Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP)This set of eight critical appraisal tools are designed to be used when reading research, these include tools for Systematic Reviews, Randomised Controlled Trials, Cohort Studies, Case Control Studies, Economic Evaluations, Diagnostic Studies, Qualitative Studies and Clinical Prediction Rule.
Rating the quality of Evidence - GRADE guidelines