I was able to find the excellent Centre for Health Evidence site, which
includes copies of all the Users Guides, see: http://www.cche.net/che/home.asp
In particular, there is a Users Guide for clinical utilization review that
appears to provide a set of standards for reviewing individual articles
about assessing the processes of physicians' care,
http://www.cche.net/usersguides/review.asp, (and there is also a guide for
assessing studies of the outcomes of health services that might work, more
or less, as a set of standards for reviewing individual articles about
assessing the outcomes of physicians' care,
http://www.cche.net/usersguides/outcomes.asp) The combination would have
allowed Choudry et al to assess the quality of some of the articles they
included in their "systematic review."
This is just a reminder that assessments of the processes and outcomes of
physicians' care can be done as rigorously as assessments of treatment,
diagnosis, etc. Furthermore, critical review of studies of processes and
outcomes of physicians' care can be done as rigorously as critical review
of studies of treatment, diagnosis, etc.
Roy M. Poses MD
Brown University Center for Primary Care and Prevention
Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island
111 Brewster St.
Pawtucket RI 02860
401 729-3400
fax 401 729-2494
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