Economic evaluation: A useful research method

Most commonly, physiotherapists will encounter economics through reading an economic evaluation. It is important that physiotherapists understand the aims of economic evaluation and what represents good practice in economic evaluation so that they are able to make judgments about the standard of published evaluations and their applicability to physiotherapy practice. Whether the results are useful to physiotherapy practice in a particular setting is determined by the extent to which the evaluation employs appropriate methodology and produces valid, transferable results. A number of economists have developed critical appraisal checklists (Drummond et al 1997, NHMRC 2001, O'Brien et al 1997)