Diagnostic Tests Toolkit

This new volume in the Toolkit series is aimed at clinicians and junior researchers who need to interpret the evidence for the effectiveness of the many diagnostic tests now available. It will enable clinicians and GPs to assess the value of asking for a particular test, and it will introduce junior researchers to the methodology, so that they can design their own research into evidence-based diagnosis. The distinguishing feature of this pocket-sized textbook will be its user-friendliness. The guiding principle for this book is that readers are not experts in diagnostic test interpretation. They are faced with a variety of issues from how to design diagnostic test studies, to understanding the results of diagnostic tests, and interpreting the findings for clinical practice and health care policy. These are practical problems that readers need to be able to understand in order to answer clinical problems as well as research questions. CONTENTS Introduction. 1 Diagnosis in evidence-based medicine. 2 Evaluating new diagnostic tests. 3 Asking an answerable clinical question. 4 Finding the evidence: how to get the most from your searching. 5 Selecting relevant studies. 6 Sources of bias in diagnostic studies. 7 Measures of discrimination of diagnostic tests. 8 Using diagnostic information in clinical practice. 9 Screening tests. 10 Systematic reviews of diagnostic test accuracy studies. Evidence-based medicine -a glossary of terms. Further reading. Index.