Portney: Test Bank for Foundations of Clinical Research
Applications to Evidence-Based Practice, 4th Edition,
Practical methods to assist practitioners in staying current with medical literature -
Answer 1. regularly review and keep up to date with relevant medical literature 2.
familiarize yourself with clinical practice guidelines that apply to your area of
practice 3. critically appraise literature to determine validity if study results and
applicability to practice
evidence-based medicine - Answer the process of finding, appraising, and using
contemporaneous research findings systematically
Major steps in practicing evidence-based pharmacy - Answer 1. formulate a clear
clinical question from a patient's problem 2. search the literature for relevant
clinical articles 3. evaluate and critically appraise the evidence for validity
usefulness 4. implement useful findings in clinical practice
Which of the following are descriptive statistics commonly used in characterizing data
from observational studies? (mark all that apply) A. arithmetic mean B. normality C.
mode D. range - Answer arithmetic mean, mode. and range are descriptive
statistics
Which of the following clinical study design characteristics is consistent with a case
report? A. observational B. prospective C. randomized D. controlled - Answer A;
case reports are always observational
Clinical research generally seeks to answer questions for which of the following health
care areas? (mark all that apply) A. disease prevention B. diagnosis C. treatment D.
reimbursement - Answer A, B, C; clinical research generally seeks to answer
questions related to disease prevention, diagnosis, and treatment
, Which of the following statements is TRUE regarding observational research design
characteristics? A. participants are blinded B. they can be retrospective or prospective
C. randomization of participants is preferred D. they establish a causal relationship
between variables of interest - Answer B; observational studies can be
retrospective or prospective
Observational studies - Answer 1. the investigator observes what is occurring
without intervening 2. typically, descriptive statistics are used to summarize the
study results 3. example: case report, which retrospectively describes a specific
clinical case or a limited number of cases
Experimental studies - Answer 1. a specific intervention or exposure to a
condition is evaluated in a study group and typically compared with a control
group 2. usually prospective in nature but it may use historical controls or
controls from medical literature for the comparator group
Case Series - Answer similar to a case report although it reports on a group of
patients with similar clinical presentations or exposure to a particular treatment
or condition compared with a single case or limited number of cases
Cohort Study - Answer 1. selects participants on the basis of one or more
specific characteristics and compares them over time to either a different set of
patients or the rest of the general population that serves as the control group 2.
in either case, the study group of interest is exposed to the test treatment or
condition at the beginning of the evaluation period, whereas the other group is
not exposed 3. essentially the same as randomized controlled trials except for the
absence of randomization
Case-control study - Answer 1. similar to cohort studies in that one group of
participants has a disease and is compared to a control group that does not have
the disease 2. a best attempt is made to find patients within the control group
Applications to Evidence-Based Practice, 4th Edition,
Practical methods to assist practitioners in staying current with medical literature -
Answer 1. regularly review and keep up to date with relevant medical literature 2.
familiarize yourself with clinical practice guidelines that apply to your area of
practice 3. critically appraise literature to determine validity if study results and
applicability to practice
evidence-based medicine - Answer the process of finding, appraising, and using
contemporaneous research findings systematically
Major steps in practicing evidence-based pharmacy - Answer 1. formulate a clear
clinical question from a patient's problem 2. search the literature for relevant
clinical articles 3. evaluate and critically appraise the evidence for validity
usefulness 4. implement useful findings in clinical practice
Which of the following are descriptive statistics commonly used in characterizing data
from observational studies? (mark all that apply) A. arithmetic mean B. normality C.
mode D. range - Answer arithmetic mean, mode. and range are descriptive
statistics
Which of the following clinical study design characteristics is consistent with a case
report? A. observational B. prospective C. randomized D. controlled - Answer A;
case reports are always observational
Clinical research generally seeks to answer questions for which of the following health
care areas? (mark all that apply) A. disease prevention B. diagnosis C. treatment D.
reimbursement - Answer A, B, C; clinical research generally seeks to answer
questions related to disease prevention, diagnosis, and treatment
, Which of the following statements is TRUE regarding observational research design
characteristics? A. participants are blinded B. they can be retrospective or prospective
C. randomization of participants is preferred D. they establish a causal relationship
between variables of interest - Answer B; observational studies can be
retrospective or prospective
Observational studies - Answer 1. the investigator observes what is occurring
without intervening 2. typically, descriptive statistics are used to summarize the
study results 3. example: case report, which retrospectively describes a specific
clinical case or a limited number of cases
Experimental studies - Answer 1. a specific intervention or exposure to a
condition is evaluated in a study group and typically compared with a control
group 2. usually prospective in nature but it may use historical controls or
controls from medical literature for the comparator group
Case Series - Answer similar to a case report although it reports on a group of
patients with similar clinical presentations or exposure to a particular treatment
or condition compared with a single case or limited number of cases
Cohort Study - Answer 1. selects participants on the basis of one or more
specific characteristics and compares them over time to either a different set of
patients or the rest of the general population that serves as the control group 2.
in either case, the study group of interest is exposed to the test treatment or
condition at the beginning of the evaluation period, whereas the other group is
not exposed 3. essentially the same as randomized controlled trials except for the
absence of randomization
Case-control study - Answer 1. similar to cohort studies in that one group of
participants has a disease and is compared to a control group that does not have
the disease 2. a best attempt is made to find patients within the control group
