A critical appraisal of a published piece of research related to practice.

Evidence Based Practice - HEN62029-5
Student number 10039687

Word count 3150

The following ssion of this assignment attempts to critically appraise the venUS III randomised control trial (RTC) published in the British Medical Journal.
As a student/healthcare worker who is new to critical appraisal I am aware that I do not fully understand some of the calculations involved in reporting of findings, however Greenhalgh (2006) argued, ‘all you really need to know is what the best test is to apply in given circumstances, what it does and what might affect its validity/appropriateness’. When caring for patients it is essential that Healthcare Professionals
Standard care comprised of low adherent dressings and four-layer bandaging that was high compression, reduced compression or no compression depending upon the participant’s tolerance. Any changes to the regime where recorded and where made at the discretion of the treating clinician. Standard care was practiced in accordance with local protocol and could have varied between locations the quality of standard care given may be considered to be a confounding variable. Surveys of reported practice of leg ulcer care by nurses have demonstrated that knowledge often falls far short of that which is ideal (Bell 1994, Moffat 2004, Roe 1994) and that there is a wide variation in the nursing management of people with leg ulcers in the United Kingdom (UK) (Elliot 1996, Moffat 2004, Roe 1994). Large variation in healing rates according to trial centre is a further indicator that standard care is so variable that it potentially affects the reliability of results. No treatment fidelity checks were undertaken and no observation regime beyond usual practice of the treating nurse’s practice was implemented despite nurses being new to ultrasound application. Nurses were deemed competent after one day of training, these nurses where then also considered competent to train other local nurses who would be providing treatment.
The ultrasound treatment given during the venous III trial did not give any additional effect on ulcer healing or reoccurrence rate and it