Web site designed and maintained by Chris Cairns  © SICS EBM Group 2004                                  

    CATs & CATmaker

A CAT is a 'Critically Appraised Topic. Within this site you will find that CATs form the backbone of the evidence-based subject reviews.

The principle of using CATs is to provide a uniform method and style of appraising papers. Malcolm Daniel has produced a powerpoint presentation explaining the layout of CATs. It is displayed on this page or can be viewed as a presentation by clicking here.

The SICS EBM group has a licence for the commercially available CATmaker™ software (© 2000, centre for evidence-based medicine). This software can take you through the process of critically appraising a paper and producing a CAT similar to the ones seem on this site.

The software is now available as a free download from the Oxford Centre of Evidence-Based Medicine website. Link

For those of you who have started, or are about to start using the software I've written a few hints and tips which you might find useful. Link

Also, the following 'CAT experts' have volunteered to provide advice, should you need it. They can be contacted via email by clicking on their names.

Mo Al – Haddad                   Ninewells Hospital, Dundee

Chris Cairns                         Stirling Royal Infirmary 

Brian Cuthbertson               Aberdeen Royal Infirmary

Malcolm Daniel                    Glasgow Royal Infirmary

Michael MacMillan               Aberdeen Royal Infirmary

Barbara Miles                      Stobhill, Glasgow 

Kevin Rooney                      Royal Alexandria Hospital, Paisley 

Joyce Stuart                         Western General Hospital, Edinburgh

David G Swann                    New Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh