The teaching is organized as follows:

Learning outcomes

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MM: METODOLOGIA DELL'INFERMIERISTICA BASATA SULLE EVIDENZE
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This course provides an introduction to Evidence Based Practice principles, with a particolar emphasis on critical appraisal or assessement of research evidence in the health sciences literature. The development of critical appraisal skills is important for informing clinical practice. Students will learn important research skills such as how to define an answerable clinical research question, how to efficiently search for evidence on the most important databases, and develop the skills necessary to critically appraise or assess the validity and the generalizalibilty of a research paper or a clinical practice guideline.
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MM: STATISTICA SANITARIA E EPIDEMIOLOGIA CLINICA
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The course is aimed at enabling the student to: - estimate accuracy and precision of measurements performed in the biomedical field; - properly synthetize and summarize the information collected on a series of patients; - compute the probability of a single event or several events - understand how to generalize findings from samples to the original population - critically appraise scientific literature dealing with Nursing, and understand and correctly implement guidelines.

Program

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MM: METODOLOGIA DELL'INFERMIERISTICA BASATA SULLE EVIDENZE
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Introduction to Evidence –Based Practice (EBP) The significance of EBP in the development of nursing science Definition of Evidence Based Nursing (EBN) Steps of the EBP/EBN a) Clinical question formulation using the PICO format: background and foreground questions b) Searching for the best evidence: designing and conducting the search for evidence in multiple evidence databases Searching databases: PubMed/Medline, CINAHL, PsycINFO®, Tripdatabase c) Critically appraising that evidence for its validity (closeness to the truth), impact (size of the effect), and applicability (usefulness in our clinical practice) d)Integrating the critical appraisal with our clinical expertise and with our patient's unique biology, values and circumstances e) Evaluating effectiveness and efficiency in executing Steps 1-4 and seeking ways to improve them both for next time Main quantitative research designs Reading a scientific article: definition of research questions, aims and hypothesis,dependent and independent variable, target population, accessible population and study sample, randomization, primary and secondary outcomes. Instruments of EBP: sistematic review, meta-analysis, guideline, Critical Appraisal Topic
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MM: STATISTICA SANITARIA E EPIDEMIOLOGIA CLINICA
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INTRODUCTION The role of Statistics in Health Professions. DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS Different measurement scales – Statistical variables and their presentation through frequency distributions: one-entry or double-entry tables – Measures of central tendency: mean (arithmetic, geometric, weighted), median, mode, percentiles – Measures of dispersion: range, interquartile range, sum of squares, variance (mean square), standard deviation, variation coefficient. PROBABILITY Classic, frequentist, subjective interpretations of probability – Sum and product rules of probability – Independent and dependent events and conditional probability – Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive value of a diagnostic test – ROC curves – Bayes theorem and its application to differential diagnosis – Random variables – Theoretical probability distributions: normal distribution. SAMPLING Populations and samples - Common sampling designs – Sampling distribution of an estimator (sample mean). STATISTICAL INFERENCE Point and interval estimates: confidence interval – Logical structure of hypothesis testing: null and alternative hypotheses; acceptance and rejection regions; type I and type II error; power of a statistical test – Choice of statistical test. EPIDEMIOLOGY Measures of disease frequency: prevalence, incidence – Measures of association: risk difference, relative risk, odds ratio – Study design: cross-sectional, cohort and case-control studies.

Bibliography

Examination Methods

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MM: METODOLOGIA DELL'INFERMIERISTICA BASATA SULLE EVIDENZE
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The final examination will consist of multiple choice and open questions to assess students' understanding of the EBP concepts covered in the course and their ability to apply critical appraisal skills to the assessment and interpretation of clinical evidence.
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MM: STATISTICA SANITARIA E EPIDEMIOLOGIA CLINICA
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The written examination will consist of about 25 multiple choice questions with 5-8 possible answers, and one exercise of Statistical Inference on a simple data set. Some statistical questions will deal with an article dealing with Nursing, chosen by the teacher of Nursing. Wrong answers to the written examination will be orally discussed with the student.