Prospective, controlled assessment of the impact of formal evidence-based medicine teaching workshop on ability to appraise the medical literature

Background The ability to critically appraise the calibre of studies in medical literature is increasingly important for medical professionals. Aim This prospective controlled study evaluated the impact of a 6-h Evidence Based Medicine (EBM) Workshop on the critical appraisal skills of medical trainees. Methods Individuals attended three 2-h workshops over a 3-week period, incorporating didactic lectures in statistics, clinical trial design, appraising research papers and practical examples. Appraisal skills were assessed pre- and post-training based on grading the quality of randomised control studies (level 1 evidence), cohort studies (level 2 evidence) and case-control studies (level 3 evidence) [From Oxford Centre for Evidence Based Medicine Levels of Evidence (2001), http://www.cebm.net/critical_appraisal.asp]. Results Overall grading improved from 39% (pre-course) to 74% (post-course), P = 0.002, with grading of levels 1, 2 and 3 studies improving from 42 to 75%, 53 to 61% and 21 to 84%, respectively. Conclusions We conclude that a 6-h formal EBM workshop is effective in enhancing the critical appraisal skills of medical trainees.