Approximately twice a month, the fellows and faculty of the University of Pittsburgh Multidisciplinary Critical Care Training Program select published articles from the literature to be reviewed using standardized methodology. The purpose is to provide critical appraisals of articles that impact the clinical practice of critical care and are of interest to practicing intensivists. These sessions are designed to foster the development of skills necessary for the practice of Evidence Based Medicine (EBM)

Articles are selected from the broad range of medical literature and are chosen on the basis of their applicability and importance to the practice of critical care, and the interests and experience of the fellows and faculty. As such, this collection is in no way meant to be an exhaustive review of the literature in the fields which impact critical care. Instead, our focus is on careful critique and thoughtful commentary on a limited number of published studies.

Each article is critiqued in a standard way using specific quidelines according to the type of article reviewed. For instance, articles which deal with the effectiveness of a given therapy are reviewed according to the guidelines listed in Table One. Occasionally, highly relevant, non-clinical studies are reviewed. Separate guidelines have been developed to critique such studies within a clinical context. An example, for animal studies, is shown in Table Two.

This is a relatively new undertaking. The Evidence Based Medicine methodology used is still evolving. Your comments are certainly welcomed and can be sent via E-mail.