CRE Research & Evidence-Based Practice Flashcards

The PICO framework used to formulate clinical research questions stands for:

Answer: Patient, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome

PICO structures searchable clinical questions by defining the Patient/Population, Intervention, Comparison condition, and Outcome of interest.

In a double-blind clinical trial, 'double-blind' means that:

Answer: Neither participants nor outcome assessors know group assignments

Double-blinding prevents performance bias (participants) and detection bias (assessors) by keeping both groups unaware of treatment assignment.

An 'intention-to-treat' analysis in clinical research includes data from:

Answer: All randomized patients regardless of protocol adherence or dropout

Intention-to-treat analysis preserves the randomization balance by including all participants as originally allocated, regardless of whether they completed treatment.

Which organization publishes the most widely used evidence-based clinical guidelines for COPD management?

Answer: GOLD (Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease)

GOLD publishes annually updated, evidence-based COPD guidelines developed through systematic review by an international panel of experts.

'External validity' in a research study refers to:

Answer: The ability to generalize findings to other populations and settings

External validity (generalizability) describes how well a study's findings apply to populations and clinical settings beyond the original study sample.

The primary role of an Institutional Review Board (IRB) in clinical research is to:

Answer: Protect the rights and welfare of human research subjects

IRBs review research protocols to ensure studies are ethically conducted, risks are minimized, and participants' rights and welfare are safeguarded.