Course Details in 2024/25 Session

Module Title	Evidence Based Medicine and Research Methods
School	Institute of Clinical Sciences
Department	Birmingham Medical School
Module Code	01 26396
Module Lead	Dr Clare Davenport
Level	Honours Level
Credits	10
Semester	Semester 1
Pre-requisites
Co-requisites
Restrictions	None
Contact Hours	Lecture-7 hours Tutorial-10 hours Guided independent study-83 hours Total: 100 hours
Exclusions
Description	This module aims to develop students’ skills in critically appraising the literature by building on the skills they have developed in previous MBChB components (principally year 1: Doctors, Patients and Society; Year 2: Professional Academic Studies). They will gain an in-depth knowledge of different study designs. They will have the opportunity to interpret (and calculate) data using statistical methodology commonly employed in research. They will be taught how to critically appraise the different study designs, asking questions about the reliability of the methodology, interpreting the results for themselves, and considering how applicable they are to a clinical situation. They will be taught about the wider evidence base (eg. secondary research, guidelines, NICE appraisals etc), and how to integrate primary research with other sources of evidence in a clinical or public health scenario.
Learning Outcomes	By the end of the module students should be able to: Describe different types of study design, their uses, strengths and weaknesses. /li> Explain how bias, confounding and causality affect the design and interpretation of the published literature. /li> Interpret and explain data as appropriate to interpreting study outcomes. /li> Critically appraise the results of studies as reported in the medical and scientific literature. /li> Apply findings from the literature to answer questions raised by specific clinical problems. /li> Formulate simple relevant research questions in response to clinical scenarios, and apply a structured approach to searching for evidence. /li> Describe the components of Evidence Based Medicine and explain how different types of evidence inform clinical practice and clinical guidelines.
Assessment	26396-01 : Evidence Based Medicine Overall Result : Exam (School Arranged) - Mixed (100%)
Assessment Methods & Exceptions	Assessment: Written examination i) MCQ: 30 1 from 5 stem questions including clinical and public health source material, contributing 50% of the total mark. ii) Short answer questions: 3 questions, each question with multiple parts. This section will be based upon a critical appraisal and test their skills in the context of clinical situations. This section of the exam will contribute 50% of the total mark. Reassessment: Students will have one opportunity to retake the written examination as above
Other	None
Reading List