Optometrists

This is an excellent student developed Evidence Based Healthcare (EBH) site!! http://www.students4bestevidence.net/ It is supported by the UK Cochrane Centre. Look here for general EBP information, discussion on EBP topics and lots of useful links to other EBP resources. The site also provides information and resources for each of the 5 EBP Process steps: http://www.students4bestevidence.net/categories/.

This web-based article provides a very comprehensive table of open access journals available for opthalmology, optometry and vision.
Citation: Leffler Christopher. Open access ophthalmology, optometry, and vision journals. [Internet]. Version 25. oculistmd. 2013 Sep 10. Available from: http://oculistmd.wordpress.com/article/open-access-ophthalmology-optomet....

A one page resource with an overview of a) free places to search for the evidence, b) the steps involved in searching efficiently using secondary and primary resources and c) the PICO format for asking a clinical question. A great quick reference tool to print and keep for quick access to help you ask and acquire literature.

This resource is an alphabetical list of selected, peer-reviewed journals that may publish articles that are relevant to your practice. Those that are open-access (available without a subscription) are identified.

This resource provides descriptions and links to the relevant databases for optometrists, ophthalmologists and other eye care professionals.

This is a critical appraisal tool (CAT) which was designed by UNSW Medicine but is equally applicable across allied health areas including optometry. A CAT is useful when appraising research evidence, since it provides a list of key points to look for during critique, helping to identify confounding factors related to factors such as masking, randomisation, control and other forms of bias. Use the tool while you read a research paper, as a checklist or reminder of key points to look for.

This resource is a description of an assignment I have used in a postgraduate course on Evidence-based Optometry, but which could also be used at undergraduate level or by practitioners wishing to hone their EBP skills. The assignment involves working through the first three steps of the EBP process: Ask (formulating a clinical question around a clinical scenario), Acquire (obtain research evidence to address the question) and Appraise (evaluate the evidence to find the best available evidence relevant to the clinical question).

The modified Fresno Test shows promise as a test of EBP competency for optometrists.