ABSTRACT
Medical research covers a very wide span of activities from genomic and proteonomic science through integrated cellular and animal studies to single-centre, multicentre and epidemiological trials. In addition, with the rise of evidencebased medicine, and as a platform from which established views of medical practice are challenged, our routine management and use of drugs (often applied from adult to paediatric practice without testing) has come under scrutiny. The sheer bulk of medical literature that bombards the practitioner is enormous but cannot be ignored. Understanding the relevance, quality and importance of published research is essential to both the trainee and the established practitioner who is required to maintain lifelong learning and development of their chosen discipline. The paediatric anaesthetist must therefore have a reasonable knowledge of research methods and have learned data interpretation skills that allow critical assessment of published or presented work.
