Branch	Locations	Status	Reservations	Due date	Barcode	Floor plan	Lending note
Branch: Hauptstelle	Locations: FO-20 200 (2.Ex.)	Status: available	Reservations: 0	Due date:	Barcode: 00227641	Floor plans: Floor plan	Lending note:

This book dissects medical research methodology and through a penetrating inquiry into its triumphs and tragedies explains why correct answers are so hard to achieve. What emerges from this inquiry is the unexpected and stunning conclusion that medical researchers can never be sure that they’ve ended up with a truthful answer. In It’s Great! readers learn why the quest for knowledge through clinical trials is fraught with problems that even the best researchers cannot overcome.

 

A fascinating gallery of cases illustrates the perils investigators face. Particular emphasis is given to the “clinical trial”, the so-called gold standard for medical research, and its seven fatal flaws show succinctly why getting the right research answer is so problematic. In example after example, the author challenges the notion that medical research is too complex for the average citizen to comprehend. Understanding the imperfect world of clinical research allows the reader to step up and begin to ask his or her own questions, to challenge conclusions, to have doubts and not be afraid to raise them. People who care about their health and the health of others should not be innocent bystanders; they have a right, maybe even an obligation to become involved. After all, it’s their health that is at stake.

 

 

Preface

 

Part One: Medical Research Explained

 

Chapter 1. Medical Research – Searching For Answers

Chapter 2. The Case-Control Method - Looking Backward

Chapter 3. The Cohort Study – Watchful Waiting

Chapter 4. The Clinical Trial - The Gold Standard

Chapter 5. Comparing The Methods – Qualitative Differences

 

Part Two: Understanding The Clinical Trial

 

Chapter 6. The Protocol - The Guiding Light

Chapter 7. The Control Group – Leveling The Playing Field

Chapter 8. Measurements – They’re Never Exact

Chapter 9. Bias Control – A Closer Look At Blinding And Randomization

Chapter 10. Utility –Are Clinical Trial Results Useful?

Chapter 11. Research Discrimination – Inadequately Tested Populations

Chapter 12. Seven Deadly Flaws – The Achilles’ Heel Of The Clinical Trial

 

Part Three: Tools Of The Trade

 

Chapter 13. Statistics – Was The Finding Significant?

Chapter 14. Analysis Issues – A Lot Of Choices

Chapter 15. The Meta Analysis - An Alternative To Large Trials

 

Part Four: The Real World

 

Chapter 16. Research Results that Clashed - What’s The Right Answer?

Chapter 17. Hormone Replacement Therapy - The Silver Bullet That Misfired

Chapter 18. Publishing – Getting The Word Out To Doctors

Chapter 19. Communicating – Sharing The News With The Public

Chapter 20. Product Development – Getting Discoveries To The Market

Chapter 21. Medical Innovation - Regulators, Resources And Results

Chapter 22. Science And Politics – A Troubling Mixture

Chapter 23. Research Misconduct - Irresistible Temptation

Chapter 24. Postmarketing Surveillance – An Imperfect System

Chapter 25. Regulatory Reform - Changes Needed

Chapter 26. Journey’s End – A Call For Action

 

Notes/Bibliography

Glossary

Index