Describe the "levels of evidence" and provide an example
of the type of practice change that could result from each
.
Level of evidence is “
hierarchy of research methods based on quality of results” (Helbig, 2018).
It is assigned to “
studies based on the methodological quality of their design, validity, and
applicability to patient care" (North Virginia Community College (NVCC), 2020).
Starting from
level one which is highest and working down the pyramid, the levels include “meta-
analyses/systematic reviews, critically-appraised topics (evidence syntheses), critically-appraised
individual articles (article synopses), randomized controlled trials, cohort studies, case-controlled
studies, and background information and expert opinions (NVCC, 2020).
Systematic reviews/
meta-analysis, critically-appraised topics/articles and
critically-appraised individual articles
have
all gone through an evaluation process thus they are filtered while
case-controlled studies, cohort
studies, and randomized controlled trials are considered unfiltered information.
