Session 2

Question 1

What is evidence based practice?

Answer 1

Health service delivery should be based on the best available evidence of effectiveness and cost-effectiveness

Question 2

What are critiques of EBP?

Answer 2

Practical - may be impossible to collate and maintain so much data. RCTs not always necessary (e.g.ethics).
Philosophical - population based outcomes don’t always work for an individual. Potential to create unreflective rule followers.

Question 3

What are potential problems with getting evidence into practice?

Answer 3

Evidence exists but doctors don’t know about it
Doctors know but don’t use the evidence
Resources not available to implement change

Question 4

What bodies exist to ensure EBP is maintained by health services?

Answer 4

NICE and CQC

Question 5

What does quantitative research involve and what are the strengths and weaknesses?

Answer 5

Collection of numerical data. E.g. surveys
+reliability. Repeatability. Good at comparisons and relationships.
-may force people into inappropriate categories. May not access all important information.

Question 6

What does qualitative research aim to do?

Answer 6

To make sense of phenomena in terms of meanings people to them. Why is there a relationship?

Question 7

What are methods of carrying out qualitative research?

Answer 7

Ethnography - studying human behaviour in its natural context (observation). Labour intensive but valuable insight
Interviews - structured and prompted
Focus groups - deviant views may be inhibited

Question 8

What are the advantages and disadvantages of qualitative research?

Answer 8

+good for understanding perspectives, explaining relationships
-less good for finding consistent relationships