Systematic Review course for GPs

This session looks at answering a question posed by a patient about a treatment. The session will cover a simple method for critically appraising a systematic review – a summary of several trials. This session was reviewed by Suchita Shah and last updated in February 2015.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this session you will be able to:

• Appraise a systematic review in terms of its applicability and methodology
• Read a forest plot to gain a statistical summary of several trials
• Assess how this information will help you in future consultations by applying a paper in practice

It is worth knowing that statistical combination of trials (meta-analysis) may or may not be used to analyse and summarise the results of the included studies. The systematic part is in finding and selecting the research.