Medical tests and their evaluation

This is a recorded video slidecast presentation on medical tests and their evaluation, by Patrick MM Bossuyt from the University of Amsterdam, delivered at a two-day workshop hosted by Cochrane Netherlands.

After a brief introduction to medical tests and their uses, this presentation explains the concepts of technical performance, clinical performance, and clinical effectiveness of medical testing. Real-life examples are used to outline the key steps and outcome measures in the study of diagnostic test accuracy. This presentation invites you to consider how medical tests affect patient outcomes and how the value of a medical test should be judged.

Please note you will need to have Microsoft Silverlight installed in order to play the presentations. 

After using this resource, you should be able to...
  • Recognize the challenges in designing and conducting RCTs of medical tests
  • Understand the importance of considering the place of a medical test in a clinical management pathway

Medical tests and their evaluation

Author information: 
Bossuyt, Patrick
Acknowledgements: 

Thanks to Cochrane Netherlands.