Due to the very low quality of the current evidence , the effects of formal patient education provided in addition to the st and ard information provided by doctors to patients compared with st and ard care remain uncertain .
BACKGROUND Generally , before being operated on , patients will be given informal information by the healthcare providers involved in the care of the patients ( doctors , nurses , ward clerks , or healthcare assistants ) .
This information can also be provided formally in different formats including written information , formal lectures , or audio-visual recorded information .
OBJECTIVES To compare the benefits and harms of formal preoperative patient education for patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy .
Methods for combining randomized clinical trials: strengths and limitations.
Methods for combining data from several studies exist and appear to be quite useful . None satisfactorily addresses the question of what studies should be combined . This issue is the most serious method ological limitation . Even studies with statistically significant interaction might still be combined if the effect were in the same direction . Thus , substantial scientific input is required as to what criteria must be met by each potential study . Much can be learned from combining or pooling data but it must be done cautiously . Pooling exercises do not replace well design ed prospect i ve clinical trials . Efforts for establishing basic design criteria to allow for multicentre and multicountry trials to be more easily combined might be useful .
Due to the very low quality of the current evidence , the effects of formal patient education provided in addition to the st and ard information provided by doctors to patients compared with st and ard care remain uncertain .
BACKGROUND Generally , before being operated on , patients will be given informal information by the healthcare providers involved in the care of the patients ( doctors , nurses , ward clerks , or healthcare assistants ) .
This information can also be provided formally in different formats including written information , formal lectures , or audio-visual recorded information .
OBJECTIVES To compare the benefits and harms of formal preoperative patient education for patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy .