Evidence-based Medicine Toolkit

Asking answerable questions 5morbidity. However, outcome measures, and the relevant time totheir measurement, may be guided by the studies themselves andnot by your original question. This is particularly true, for example,when looking at pain relief, where the patient’s objective may be‘relief of pain’ while the studies may define and assess this using arange of different measures.Type of questionOnce you have created a question, it is helpful to think about whattype of question you are asking, as this will affect where you lookfor the answer and what type of research you can expect to providethe answer.Typology for question buildingType of questionAetiology: the causes of disease and theirmodes of operation.Diagnosis: signs, symptoms or tests fordiagnosing a disorder.Prognosis: the probable course of diseaseover time.Therapy: selection of effective treatmentswhich meet your patient’s values.Cost-effectiveness: is one intervention morecost-effective than another?Quality of life: what will be the quality of lifeof the patient?Type of evidenceCase–control orcohort studyDiagnostic validationstudyInception cohort studyRandomizedcontrolled trialEconomic evaluationQualitative study