PharmD Info

BhavathariniArun wrote: ↑18 Apr 2020, 16:10 How to effectively create explicit inclusion and exclusion criterias to include studies under a systematic review? Are such rigorous criteria necessary for including studies under a narrative review ?

This question is very vital before even thinking to conduct a systematic review because of the ‘garbage in and garbage out’ phenomenon that the systematic review usually suffers.

Selecting and appraising studies does include an elaborate methodology but more importantly, it also involves the reviewer’s judgments. Some of these judgments are easy to make but others are more difficult and prone to errors.

And the only way to increase the confidence in the judgments is to make the process reliable (the results do not change if the procedure is repeated), impartial (not influenced by the study results), and explicit (unambiguous).

The process may be any until it is efficient enough, but generally, the following steps may be followed.

• 1. Begin with a well built clinical question

• 2. Chose selection criteria that fits the clinical question

• 3. Specify the types of study design to be included

• 4. Specify criteria related to type and form of publication

• 5. Construct selection forms-customized forms-checklist of the selection criteria

• 6. Write a detailed protocol.

As far as narrative review is concerned, the literature searches are generally selective and not explicit and planned priorly. This is what makes systematic review superior to narrative reviews in the EBM hierarchy.

narayana.reddy wrote: ↑20 Apr 2020, 08:01

Naren wrote: ↑17 Apr 2020, 16:19 Can you please suggest a free online plagiarism checker sir?

Using free online software for checking plagiarism is not advisable, as these free versions will not check the plagiarism as effective as licensed versions, and also some of these software will store your files for future purposes, if you are a student of JSS, then don't worry, please contact your mentor, as all mentors have been provided with licensed versions of Turnitin by JSSAHER.

@Naren Free plagiarism software's comes with its own limitations like, you are allowed to check plagiarism for limited words, level of checking the plagiarism and etc.

It is surprising that none of the free version detect more than 44 percent of plagiarism.

How about Turnitin? How much percentage of plagiarism can be detected by turnitin?

The following reference details all the information about the Free Plagiarism Software's - Click Here

Admin wrote: ↑15 Apr 2020, 13:56 Why we should use only the licensed statistical software's for data analysis?

I believe the question is about purchased software vs free software. SPSS, GraphPad Prism are some of commonly used purchased software for data analysis in social sciences and biomedical researches. We can use free statistical analysis tools like R, Python, SAS [University Edition] which are capable of performing robust and even higher statistical functions that sometimes SPSS and GraphPad prism don't perform. This is the right time pharmacy students should start using these software for their project.

Naren wrote: ↑17 Apr 2020, 16:19 Can you please suggest a free online plagiarism checker sir?

'Grammarly' is one of the good free online tools for checking the Plagiarism (https://www.grammarly.com/plagiarism-checker). One more advantage of using this tool is, it will check grammar and spelling as well.

narayana.reddy wrote: ↑20 Apr 2020, 08:06

BhavathariniArun wrote: ↑17 Apr 2020, 16:50 There are various reference management softwares available for reference management such as Zotero , Mendeley etc. In your experience which is the best to use as a beginner?

Ya as you have mentioned with my experience, Zotero is good, as it is free verision, followed by mendly, But ultimately Endnote is my all time favorite

Check the following image to know more about referencing software's,

Jemi Rachel Shaji wrote: ↑18 Apr 2020, 13:48 In Palisade software to make a decision tree "Value" means Cost or the Sample size?

In the Palisade software you need to mention the utility findings as "Value" for example; QALY or COST achieved after interventions. In the decision tree you may have chance nodes and its related items, In each chance nodes you must enter probability and Value units.

1. Probability is nothing but its is a numerical description of how likely an event is to occur.

2. Value is COST if available or you can keep ZERO as value . Some times QALY also considered as Value but that should followed with entire decision tree model.

TreeAge Pro is the best alternative platform and its more particular pharmacoeconomic decision model developments and they have open learning resources in youtube and etc ,

Check the below link to get learning resources from palisade - Precision Tree Modelling
https://www.palisade.com/precisiontree/5/tips/en/gs/

Akshitha Rani Siby wrote: ↑17 Apr 2020, 16:23 How can we assure the quality of data that has been collected by the students for their project?

Most of the times it may not be practically possible to check the entire data collected by the students for validity or quality. One solution for this frequently sits with students and cross-check the data entered in the database with the data in original data collection forms. If possible, a sample of data collection forms can be cross-checked with the medical records available at MRD.

Naren wrote: ↑17 Apr 2020, 16:19 Can you please suggest a free online plagiarism checker sir?

@Naren
Hi Naren, thanks for your question, which is indeed a concern for most of the authors and researchers these days.

To begin with, usually, it's not recommended to use the unauthorized online plagiarism checkers, as they are not efficient in detecting the similar content that is available online. Besides, at times, there is a chance of being defrauded by the online unauthenticated softwares, which is not safe for your content (article/document). For instance, Pharm.D thesis projects are at higher risk of being theft, if you use some random online plagiarism checker.

However, if you feel like the content that is being checked is not of that importance (suppose, minor assignments etc), then you could have a look at these, https://smallseotools.com/plagiarism-checker/
https://www.duplichecker.com/
https://www.quetext.com/

Personally, I highly recommend Turnitin, Grammarly, Plagiarism checker X, WriteCheck (version of Turnitin available for students) for the purpose of checking the plagiarism. If you are a still student, then try approaching your librarian or the concern person in knowing whether if your institution is having a subscription to any of the plagiarism checkers, as these days most of the colleges have subscribed to the Turnitin for the research and writing purposes.

The other option would be, if you write a lot and capable of buying one, you can get the official software for your own personal writing purpose, which would cost around 2k-5k for a year.

For any reason, if you don't want to purchase it, here are some of the free plagiarism detecting online tools, which could help you temporarily to a certain extent.

Grammarly, Paper Rater, and ProWriting Aid.

I hope this helps.

Gopi R wrote: ↑19 Apr 2020, 22:02 Are there any softwares or databases for follow up in patients in a prospective cohort study?*

As per my knowledge, there are no standard software or databases for the follow up of patients. If you are doing a prospective cohort study, it is better to create your own database (by using Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Access) to record the events happening during the follow up of the patients.

Admin wrote: ↑15 Apr 2020, 13:58 Can i do my project under the guideship of a clinician preceptor?

You can do the project under the guide ship of a clinician preceptor if your institution allows. However, you need to confirm with your college authority how the guide ship should be distributed during the submission of your thesis. Because, some colleges will ask you to keep the clinician as co-guide or Guide number 2 followed by your primary preceptor who is affiliated to your particular institution. Finally, it varies on institution to institution and their policy.