Since there remains a need to examine the nature of the neural effect and therapeutic efficacy/effectiveness of sensory stimulation provided to persons in states of seriously impaired consciousness, a passive sensory stimulation intervention, referred to as the Familiar Auditory Sensory Training (FAST) protocol, was developed for examination in an ongoing, double-blind, randomized clinical tria...

Bringing evidence-based treatments to community practice is a critical challenge for the field. When implemented in the community, evidence-based treatments often fail to provide the benefits shown in laboratory settings. Therefore, when evidence-based treatments are transported to the community, it is essential to investigate implementation process and outcomes. The present study assessed whet...

A major challenge in the development of anticancer therapies is the considerable time and resources needed for conducting randomized clinical trials (RCT). There is a need for more efficient RCT designs that accelerate development, minimize costs, and make trials more appealing to patients. We review the statistical and logistical characteristics of multi-arm designs that compare several experi...

abstract background: nurses’ clinical judgment development is essential for the professional nursing practice. the aim of this study was to explore the facilitators to the development of iranian nurses’ clinical judgment. materials and methods: a qualitative design using conventional content analysis method was employed in the study. a purposive sample of 24 participants was recruited from thre...

Although randomized clinical trials (RCTs) are universally regarded as the standard for establishing treatment efficacy (Shapiro and Louis 1983), relatively few RCTs have been attempted in the field of outpatient drug abuse treatment. Of those that have been attempted, most have reported subject recruitment and retention to be among the most pervasive problems encountered. Considerable attentio...

The role of real-world evidence (RWE) in regulatory, drug development, and healthcare decision-making is rapidly expanding. Recent advances have increased the complexity of cancer care and widened the gap between randomized clinical trial (RCT) results and the evidence needed for real-world clinical decisions. Instead of remaining invisible, data from the >95% of cancer patients treated outside...

PURPOSE To discuss the methodological considerations of a standard and applicable randomized clinical trial (RCT). MATERIALS AND METHODS Using a predefined strategy, we conducted systematic computerized search of the MEDLINE (1966 to 2011) and EMBASE (1980 to 2011) databases to identify all English language educational articles discussing the RCT methodological aspects. Full text versions of ...

leagues in the June 2004 Canadian Journal of Surgery (volume 47, pages 200–208) nicely takes readers through the process of assessing the value of a randomized clinical trial (RCT) in surgery. These steps are based on the invaluable work of the Evidence-Based Medicine Working Group (EBMWG). Considerable effort has also gone into standardizing reportage of RCTs. Thoma’s article has 35 references...

Several issues concerning stepped care are discussed: the constraints of using Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders diagnoses in randomized clinical trials (RCTs), the importance of basic and process research, the unintended negative effects of exaggerated claims of effectiveness and efficiency, the limits of RCTs in evaluating improvement and deterioration, the self-correcting...

BACKGROUND The Cochrane risk of bias (RoB) tool has been widely embraced by the systematic review community, but several studies have reported that its reliability is low. We aim to investigate whether training of raters, including objective and standardized instructions on how to assess risk of bias, can improve the reliability of this tool. We describe the methods that will be used in this in...