Step 1. Critical:  all else depends on your finding a Randomized Controlled (Clinical) Trial Peer-Reviewed Journal Article (Level II Evidence)  Review Figure 1.1,~ p. 13 of your textbook for the Level of Evidence Pyramid, which shows an RCT is at Level II. When you communicate with physicians about an article, they respect the article more when it is at least on the Level II evidence pyramid, which suggests more credibility and possibly better input regarding outcomes of care.  Find your peer-reviewed Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) article related to your area of interest.  If you are not sure of how to find articles using our DCN Databases,do the following:

1. Go to the DCN Home Page
2. Notice that there are 3 columns and 3 rows, each with a green heading category.  Go to the second row, first column, and click on Databases. Once your see the top heading, Database Access, look below and see “For DCN Students: Database Use Tutorial (MP4 Recording). Study the tutorial, and it will assist you in finding a Randomized Controlled (Clinical) Trial article
3. If you need further assistance with finding an article after you review the tutorial, email Mr. Madsen, Director of the LRC. He has a Masters of Library Services degree, and can assist you in finding articles that you may not be able to access. If you find an article that charges a fee, e-mail Mr. Madsen the article you need, and he can usually get the full text article for you at no charge. His email address is [email protected].

Step 2.  Once you have your article, read it, and then look at the CONSORT Checklist, and write the page number in the article that has the information the checklist requires. (FYI, researchers who publish their research use this checklist to be sure they have everything in their article, or it is often not accepted by premier scholarly publishers). The checklist is worth 25 points, as it takes time and discernment to do it correctly.

Step 3:  Once your fill out the CONSORT CHECKLIST (25 points), you must then write a formal summary of the Analysis of Strengths and Weaknesses (worth 8 points) that you will notice is on the CONSORT checklist. The following steps are to assist you in distilling the specifics for what is required in the Analysis of Strengths and Weaknesses for the CONSORT checklist. .

Step 4  Specifics of the ANALYSIS OF STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES.  Review ~p. 9 of your research textbook, and then note how to write
 

1. Introduction  (1 point)

                   + Purpose of the RCT (discuss)

1. Overall Strengths and Weaknesses  (1 point) 

                  +  Research Design (Discuss)

                  +  Important Findings

1. Reliability and Validity  (2 points) (Check the

     methods, instruments, measurements or

     procedures sections of article); statistics; Level of Evidence and

     implications; cause-effect measurement; any threats to internal

     or external validity

1. Ethics (1 point)

                  +  IRB? +Conflict of Interest +Informed Consent Signed

1. Topic/Summary  (2 points)

                 + Implications

                 + Limitations

                 + Recommendation(s)