12. 6. 2010
Psychiatrists are inundated by information on treatment of mental disorders. The information varies in quality. The purpose of the workshop is to equip the participants with instruments of evidence based medicine that will help them assess the quality of scientific information. This will be accomplished by a critical analysis of two publications (1,2). Before the workshop, the participants will study these publications and evaluate them using a rating scale constructed for this purpose. Examples of issues addressed by individual scale items: Does the paper have a clearly formulated hypothesis? How was the number of subjects determined? Is there information about the fate of all randomized subjects? Are the doses of medications comparable? Do the statistical methods test the hypothesis? Are the methods ethically acceptable? Are the conclusions original and useful?
During the workshop, for each publication, the participants will discuss the rating of each item of the scale. The participants will then vote on the rating of each item. Workshop organizers will then share with the participants their own opinion; this will lead to further discussion in some cases. The participants will develop improved ability to critically assess information on psychopharmacology. This will be useful for their clinical practice.
Keywords: evidence based medicine, psychopharmacology, critical review
(1) Giegling I, Drago A, Schafer M, Moller HJ, Rujescu D, Serretti A. Interaction of haloperidol plasma level and antipsychotic effect in early phases of acute psychosis treatment. J Psychiatr Res. 2010; doi:10.1016/j.jpsychires. 2009.11.004.
(2) Kahn RS, Fleischhacker WW, Boter H et al. Effectiveness of antipsychotic drugs in first-episode schizophrenia and schizophreniform disorder: an open randomised clinical trial. Lancet. 2008;371:1085-1097.