Best Evidence in Critical Care Medicine (BECCM)

The Canadian Journal of Anesthesia welcomes submissions in consideration for publication as brief synopses accompanied by a critical appraisal of important studies in the field of critical care medicine. The referenced study must have been published recently (within the past 12 months) in another leading peer-reviewed journal.

The manuscript must contain 2 sections:

1) Structured abstract of no more than 400 words (including 1 table or figure)

The abstract should include the following headings: Context or background for the study, Objective, Design, Setting, Patients or subjects, Interventions and measurements, Main results (giving specific effect sizes and their statistical significance), and Conclusions.

2) Commentary of no more than 1,000 words (including 1 table or figure)

The strengths and weaknesses of the study should be discussed under the following headings: Study relevance, Analysis of methodology (selection of patients, inclusion and exclusion criteria, blinding procedures, appropriateness of the outcome measures and statistical analysis, bias, conflict of interest, etc), External validity (application to clinical practice), and Clinical perspective (summarize the importance of the study in context of the current best evidence on the topic). Up to 10 references may be cited.

In preparation of BECCM manuscripts, authors may refer to the Users’ Guides of The Centre for Health Evidence of the University of Alberta http://www.cche.net/usersguides/main.asp (accessed November 18, 2006).