Critical appraisal Each reviewer (TOS, DS) critically appraised each study using the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) critical appraisal tool.
We provide a systematic review of clinical trials (CTs) related to DED treatment and a critical appraisal of CT public databases.
We used the technique of meta-ethnography, following a three-stage approach: (1) A comprehensive systematic literature search of 67 electronic databases and appraisal of eligible qualitative studies related to patients' reasons for seeking CAM was carried out.
A number of other searches were also undertaken, including other databases (rapid appraisal), websites, and congress abstracts, which are listed in Additional file 1: Appendix 2. The bibliographies of identified research and review articles were also checked for studies.
The structure of the system was designed which includes appraisal model, trade case, GIS database and query analysis module.
The development process included systematic database searches, critical appraisal of the evidence base using GRADE [ 42], and formulating evidence-based practice recommendations.
To be specific, they should not have attended lectures and workshops on clinical question formulation, database searching, critical appraisal and applying findings on patient cases.
Critical appraisal skills including basic numeracy, electronic database searching, and the ability systematically to ask questions of a research study—are prerequisites for competence in evidence based medicine.
The strengths of this study stems from the comprehensive literature search that spans across multiple databases and duplicate appraisal and study selection.
To identify potentially relevant clinical guideline appraisal instruments, the following electronic databases were searched from inception to October 2010: PubMed, RePEc, and Web of Science.
