Levels of Evidence in Research Studies Discussion

There are five levels of evidence (I, II ,III ,IV ,V) assigned to a research study according to the quality of the design and factors of assessment. Level I includes evidence of relevant “Randomized Controlled Trials” (RCTs) obtained by conducting meta-analysis or systemic reviews. It also includes “evidence-based clinical practice guidelines” based on the systemic review of multiple high-quality RCTs that have the same results. Level II includes pieces of evidence from RCTs that have good design. Level III includes evidence that is obtained from the controlled trials that are well designed, excluding randomization. Level IV includes evidence obtained from well-designed studies, either cohort or case-control.

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Level V includes evidence obtained from the meta-synthesis (systemic reviews of studies including quantitative and descriptive studies). Level VI and level VII include evidence from a single study (qualitative or descriptive study) and evidence obtained from authorities’ opinions or reports from the expert communities, respectively. Best evidence can be found by applying the “hierarchy of evidence” (Camargo et al, 2018). It is the most important principle of the “Evidence-Based Practice” (EBP) that enables the nurses and healthcare staff to perform assessments of research to understand the effectiveness of the risks related to a certain diagnostic (test or treatment. It also facilitates nurses in creating a care plan for their patients, which help them in acting proactively to improve their health. Better patient outcomes have also witnessed with the use of EBP as this practice decreases the demand for healthcare resources (Mena-Tudela et al, 2018)

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