Development and psychometric testing of an instrument to evaluate cognitive skills of evidence based practice in student health professionals

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Health educators need rigorously developed instruments to evaluate cognitive skills relating to evidence based practice (EBP). Previous EBP evaluation instruments have focused on the acquisition and appraisal of the evidence and are largely based in the medical profession. The aim of this study was to develop and validate an EBP evaluation instrument to assess EBP cognitive skills for entry-level health professional disciplines.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The Fresno test of competence in evidence based medicine was considered in the development of the 'Knowledge of Research Evidence Competencies' instrument (K-REC). The K-REC was reviewed for content validity. Two cohorts of entry-level students were recruited for the pilot study, those who had been exposed to EBP training (physiotherapy students, n = 24), and who had not been exposed to EBP training (human movement students, n = 76). The K-REC was administered to one cohort of students (n = 24) on two testing occasions to evaluate test-retest reliability. Two raters independently scored the first test occasion (n = 24) to evaluate the inter-rater reliability of the marking guidelines. Construct validity was assessed by comparison of the two groups, 'exposed' and 'non-exposed', and the percentage of students achieving a 'pass' score in each of these groups. Item difficulty was established.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Among the 100 participants (24 EBP 'exposed', and 76 EBP 'non-exposed' students), there was a statistically significant (<it>p </it>< 0.0001) difference in the total K-REC scores. The test-retest and inter-rater reliability of the individual items and total scores ranged from moderate to excellent (measured by Cohen's Kappa and ICC, range: 0.62 to perfect agreement).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The K-REC instrument is a valid and reliable evaluation instrument of cognitive skills of EBP in entry-level student health professionals. The instrument is quick to disseminate and easy to score, making it a suitable instrument for health educators to employ to evaluate students' knowledge of EBP or in the evaluation of entry-level EBP training.</p

COMPARISON OF COMBINED LITHIUM WITH CARBAMAZEPINE, BENZODIAZEPINES AND NEUROLEPTICS IN TREATMENT OF ACUTE MANIA IN AN INPATIENT STUDY

The effect of neuroloptics. Carbamacepine and hensmliacepines in treatment of 8.3 patients with acute mania was studied. According to drug types. Patients were divided into 5 groups:&quot;n1) lithium combined with ilubupridol. &quot;n2) Lithium combined with one plxenoshiacine &quot;n3) Lithium combined with two phenothiazines. &quot;n4) Lithium combined with cubumazepine and &quot;n5) Lithium combined with benzxliazepines &quot;nNo singnificunt differences in duration of treatment among the groups were found. According to increased risk of extrapyramidol symptoms in treatment with neuroloptics, carbamazepine or benzxliazepines are preferred in treatment of acute mania as safer comedicutions. &amp;nbsp

Epidemiology of vascular diseases

Epidemiology has been a key tool in the discovery of modifiable risk factors that cause vascular diseases and has allowed us to monitor the impact of interventions on public health. Although there are long-term declines in the rates of traditional vascular diseases in the Western world, there are an increasing number of people living with chronic diseases such as vascular dementia and heart failure. In addition, there are challenges presented by socioeconomic, cultural, and demographic inequalities in vascular health care that might benefit from ongoing precision medicine research to target the right treatment to the right patients at the right time. Cardiovascular diseases are still the leading cause of death worldwide, and researchers need to raise awareness and improve management of risk factors for vascular disease within the global context