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Search results - Systematic Reviews

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Key facts

Types	Professional Development Short Courses
Location	Oxford
Address	Ewert House Ewert Place Sumertown Oxford Oxfordshire OX2 7DD. Map
Dates	Wed 12 to Tue 18 Jun 2013
Subject area(s)	Health
CATS points	20
Fees	From £1500.00
Application status	Applications being accepted
Course code	O12C188B9Y
Course contact	If you have any questions about this course, please email cpdhealth@conted.ox.ac.uk or telephone +44 (0) 1865 286941.

Overview

This module will take the participants through the process of doing a systematic review, emphasising how and why this qualifies as scientific research. It will focus on the practicalities rather than the theory, which will have been taught in the introductory modules. The module will use a problem-based learning approach in which each participant brings a specific topic for a systematic review to discuss, justify and revise during the module. It will stress the importance of choosing the correct study design to answer the question posed by the systematic review and will, therefore, not be restricted to systematic reviews of randomized trials.

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Description

This module is relevant both to people who will conduct systematic reviews and to those who will use knowledge from the ever-increasing number of systematic review being done by others. It does this by providing participants with a thorough understanding of the systematic reviews process, and how decisions made during the systematic review may have influenced its quality and relevance.

The Randomized Controlled Trials and the Systematic Reviews modules are both led by Mike Clarke who is Director of the All Ireland Hub for Trials Methodology Research at Queen’s University Belfast and Adjunct Professor at the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Trinity College, Dublin.

This course will take the participants through the process of doing a systematic review and will focus on the practicalities rather than the theory. It will consider the practical aspects of:

Question formulation
Study identification
Appraisal of quality
Data extraction and collection
Statistical synthesis
Reporting

The course will take place on five separate full days. Each participant will be encouraged to identify a topic for a systematic review that they would like to discuss in detail during the course.

The course will follow a problem based learning approach.

In the first session, each participant will be asked to identify the question for the particular systematic review of health care interventions that they would like to discuss during the course. They will also be asked to highlight any particular challenges that they anticipate with working on this review.

The issues to be tackled in most detail in the other nine sessions will be determined through discussion within the group. There are no plans for formal lectures but suitably experienced co-Teaching Staff will be identified and invited to participate in sessions if the need arises.

The course will cover the following topics:

Formulating the question for your systematic review
Determining the eligibility criteria
Study identification
Data extraction
Assessing trial quality
Statistical analyses
Heterogeneity
Subgroup analyses
Reporting and updating of systematic reviews
Where to get help in the future

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Staff

Professor Mike Clarke

Role: Module Coordinator

Mike Clarke is Chair of Research Methodology and Director of the MRC all-Ireland Hub for Trials Methodology Research at Queen’s University,...more Belfast. He was awarded a first class BA in Chemistry at the University of Oxford in 1984, which included a one-year thesis on the history of drug abuse. This led to a DPhil on the history of suicide in England and Wales, with special emphasis on the use of poisons. He started work in healthcare research in 1989 at the Clinical Trial Service Unit and Epidemiological Studies Unit (CTSU) in Oxford, where he became responsible for collaborative overviews of cancer treatments. In these, individual patient data are collected and analysed for all patients entered into relevant trials. The largest of the projects concerns the treatment of operable breast cancer and has provided reliable estimates of the effects of a variety of treatments, which influence the care of women with breast cancer worldwide. In April 1999, Mike took up the new post of Associate Director (Research) at the UK Cochrane Centre. He was Director of the Centre from October 2002 until March 2011, when he moved to Belfast.

Mike has considerable experience in the conduct of large multicentre randomised trials and systematic reviews. He is actively involved with trials in pre-eclampsia, subarachnoid haemorrhage, maternity care, breast cancer and poisoning - each of which are among the largest ever randomised trials in these conditions. Mike has been involved with the University of Oxford’s MSc in Evidence Based Health Care since the course began, and developed the Randomised Controlled Trials and the Systematic Reviews elective modules. He continues to teach both these modules.

Mike received the title Professor of Clinical Epidemiology from the University of Oxford in October 2004. He is a Visiting Professor of the Evidence Based Medicine and Clinical Epidemiology Centre of the West China School of Medicine in Chengdu, home of the Chinese Cochrane Centre, Adjunct Professor in the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Trinity College Dublin and Adjunct Professor at the National University of Ireland in Galway. In the last 20 years, Mike has published more than 200 papers and book chapters.

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Course aims

By the end of this module students will be able to:

Formulate a clear question for a systematic review and understand their key motivations for doing the review
Specify the eligibility criteria for a systematic review
Develop a search strategy for a systematic review
Prepare a quality appraisal and data extraction form for a systematic review
Identify, describe and discuss sources of heterogeneity among the studies in a systematic review
Develop a statistical analysis plan for a systematic review
Conduct, report and update a systematic review
Use this knowledge to assess the quality of systematic reviews done by others

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Assessment methods

Assessment will be based on submission of two written assignments which should each not exceed 1,500 words.

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Level and demands

This course focuses on the practice, more than the theory, of systematic reviews. It tackles practical issues that are often encountered in such research.
The course will be of most benefit to someone planning to do a review in the near future; but should also be useful to anyone who may do a review or wants to find out more about how to interpret reviews done by others.
Some knowledge about evidence-based health care and systematic reviews would be helpful, but is by no means essential.

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Accommodation

Rewley House Accommodation

Accommodation is available at the Rewley House Residential Centre, within the Department for Continuing Education, in central Oxford. The comfortable, en-suite, study-bedrooms are rated 3-star, and come with free high-speed internet access and TV. Guests can take advantage of the excellent dining facilities and common room bar, where they may relax and network with others on the programme.

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Scholarships

Details of funding opportunities, including grants, bursaries, loans, scholarships and benefit information are available on our financial assistance page.

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Fee options

Programme Fee: Students enrolled on MSc in Evidence-Based Health Care: £1500.00; Students enrolled on Postgraduate Cert in Health Research: £1500.00; Students enrolled on Postgraduate Dip in Health Research: £1500.00; Short course in health sciences: £2070.00

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Apply for this course

You can apply for this course in the following ways:

Apply by post, email or fax: Download a PDF application form .

MSc Terms and Conditions (important: please read before applying) PDF document .
Stand Alone Terms and Conditions (important: please read before applying) .

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Programmes including this module

This module can be studied as part of these programmes:

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