As a healthcare worker our life is ruled by evidence based actions and treatments. We need to become scientifically literate and therefore need to be read and understand scientific research and be able to read research papers. Scientific papers, world over, tend to be either a primary research article or a review article and both are usually peer-reviewed. Review articles tend to be a summary of multiple research articles forming a consensus, a debate or answering questions within a field. However, they are only a snapshot of the research at the time they are published. Primary research papers on the other hand have structured format and contain details of the research (which may also be published online) and have a structured format. Reading scientific papers can be frustrating especially if there is unfamiliar jargon and baffling statistics. Reading and understanding research papers is a skill which doctors, dentists and scientists have to learn during their time at respective schools. But you too can acquire this skill with practice and a little bit of patience.
Learning Objectives:
- To understand the presentation of scientific data
- To be able to distinguish between good papers and not so good papers/research
- To be able to get round the jargon
- To be able to use the data for the benefit of your practice