CATmaker

CATmaker is a software tool which helps you create Critically Appraised Topics, or CATs, for the key articles you encounter about Therapy, Diagnosis, Prognosis, Aetiology/Harm and Systematic Reviews of Therapy.

It carries out the following functions:

  • prompts you for your clinical question, your search strategy and key information about the study you found;
  • provides on-line critical appraisal guides for assessing the validity and usefulness of the study;
  • automates the calculation of clinically useful measures (and their 95% confidence intervals);
  • helps you formulate clinical "Bottom Lines" from what you've read;
  • creates 1-page summaries (CATs) that are easy to store, print, retrieve, and share (as both text and HTML files);
  • helps you remember when to update each CAT you create;
  • helps you to teach others how to practice EBM; and
  • most importantly, looks groovy.