Animal Care Education
Leitura crítica / Journal Club

Critical appraisal of articles (Journal Club)

A guide to analyse a study in a group or individually: question, design, population, results, limitations and application to practice.

Use one copy per article. Record what the study allows you to conclude and what it does not. The goal is to decide whether, and how, the result changes your practice.

Identification

  1. Full reference (authors, title, journal, year, DOI)

  2. Publication type

    Clinical trialCohortCase-controlCross-sectionalCase seriesSystematic reviewNarrative reviewGuideline/consensusPreprint

  3. Funding source and declared conflicts

Question and design

  1. What is the study question (population, intervention/exposure, comparison, outcome)?

  2. Does the design answer the question?

    YesPartiallyNo

  3. Were randomisation, blinding and control described?

    • Randomisation described
    • Blinding described
    • Adequate control group
    • Sample size calculation reported

Population and measures

  1. Species, breed, age, clinical condition and setting (clinic, field, laboratory)

  2. Inclusion and exclusion criteria; losses to follow-up

  3. Outcomes measured and how

Results

  1. Main results with effect size and confidence interval

  2. Does statistical difference amount to clinical relevance here?

    YesNoUncertain

Limitations and application

  1. Limitations acknowledged by the authors and others identified by the group

  2. Does the studied population resemble mine?

    CloselyPartiallyLittle

  3. What changes, or not, in practice, and with what degree of confidence?

Quando parar e pedir ajuda

  • Do not apply the result to a species or condition not studied without additional evidence.
  • Preprints and abstracts do not replace the peer-reviewed full text.