INTRODUCTION The purpose of this essay is to conduct a comprehensive critical appraisal of a research paper titled ‘Chloramphenicol treatment for acute infective conjunctivitis in children in primary care’ that was carried out by Rose et al. (2005) in the United Kingdom (UK). The aim of evaluation is to critically concentrate on the strength and limitation of the study. Firstly, a clear definition of critical appraisal and its importance will be highlighted, going on further will be the critical, analysis, discussion and evaluation of the peer reviewed paper contents so as to ascertain the validity and reliability of the study. Therefore, a conclusion will be drawn to learning its significance in public health. BACKGROUND Critical Appraisal …show more content…
According to University College London (UCL) (2011), critical evaluation helps to filter necessary information, identify studies that are applicable clinically and also for continuous professional development (CPD). However, evaluation of an article, is assessed using pre-designed instrument that encourages a more thorough and systematic method; it is designed for different study design and ask specific questions as pertain validity of the study such as: if the study has given an answer to the research question and has met its set aims and objectives, the methodology, analysis and interpretation of findings (Harder, 2014; Burls, 2009; Whiffin and Hasselder, 2013). It could be said that a good critical assessment plays a vital in evidence-based practice. Therefore, a critical appraisal skills programme (CASP, 2009) checklist will be used to evaluate the selected paper for this …show more content…
This would help inform decision making clinically. Nevertheless, the journals or article must have a realistic research question (s) and objectives that would determine the appropriate research design. The study is a randomised control trial (RCT) quantitative study conducted by Rose et al. (2005) with the sole aim of determining the effectiveness of topical chloramphenicol for children presenting with acute infective conjunctivitis in a primary care sector, United Kingdom (UK). Bowling (2009) defines RCT as an experimental method for the evaluation of the effectiveness of health services and interventions in relation to specific conditions. RCT involves the random allocation of participants between experimental groups, whose members receive the treatment or other intervention, and control group whose members receive a standard or placebo treatment. Also, it is a gold standard in testing the efficacy of an intervention (UCL, 2011). To commence the article assessment is the view of the abstract. The heading and abstract of the study was well outlined, concise and focused on the sample population, methodology, data analysis as well as the result of the study. Burns and Grove (2009) state that abstract is a clear, succinct outline of a study, usually between a hundred to two hundred and fifty words count. Also, abstracts are short outline generally