Objectives:

- To provide information on how evidence from diagnostic systematic reviews can be used in clinical practice;

- To decide which information relevant to clinical decision making should be included in a diagnostic systematic review.

Summary: Diagnostic test results are of crucial importance in health care and clinical decision making. However, in order to apply the results of diagnostic test accuracy systematic reviews to clinical practice it is necessary to understand how diagnostic test results relate to a patient's pre-test probability of disease and to the potential benefits and harms of using a given diagnostic test. In particular, the workshop will cover the following topics:

- the rationale of diagnostic decision making, including test-no treatment and test-treatment;

- thresholds;

- the use of measures of diagnostic test accuracy (e.g. sensitivity, specificity, likelihood ratios) in clinical practice;

- the influence of the pre-test probability on test results;

- additional factors which may influence test results.

The workshop will include:

- a brief introduction about the interpretation of diagnostic test results;

- a discussion on how diagnostic test results can influence clinical decision making;

- practical exercises to illustrate the concepts of diagnostic decision making.

Target audience:

- researchers and clinicians interested in conducting diagnostic test accuracy systematic reviews;

- clinicians and policy makers interested in learning about the implications of applying results of diagnostic test accuracy systematic reviews to clinical practice.


Level of knowledge required to attend: basic.