Piloting short workshops on the critical appraisal of reviews

This paper describes a pilot programme of short workshops on the critical appraisal of review articles. The twelve workshops, which ran in various parts of the United Kingdom during 1992 and 1993, lasted either one or two half-days, and consisted of a mixture of large-group sessions and critical appraisal in small groups of a systematic review. The 274 participants came from varied backgrounds, though chiefly in public health and purchasing. The workshops were well received and were oversubscribed. Participants reported that they found them useful and that they raised their awareness of the place of evidence about effectiveness in decision-making. The challenge now is to evaluate the impact of such workshops more rigorously.