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Continuing Professional Development - MSc Programme Modules (London-based)

CRITICAL SKILLS FOR TROPICAL MEDICINE (3108)

ORGANISER: Professor Alison Grant

TIMETABLE SLOT: Term 1, Monday p.m.


BACKGROUND
This module represents knowledge and skills needed for core aspects of using quantitative and qualitative evidence in informing clinical management and public health decisions.  We aim to train practitioners in tropical medicine and public health who need this knowledge both to make informed decisions and to be able to discuss evidence and its applicability with colleagues. 


AIM
To teach core precepts of the practice of evidence-based medicine and public health as applied in a tropical context.


OBJECTIVES
By the end of this module students should be able to:

  1. describe the range of clinical decisions which can be informed by high quality evidence;
  2. describe the different types of evidence that are relevant to clinical and public health decision-making and their advantages and disadvantages;
  3. describe methods of critically appraising different types of evidence;
  4. describe basic epidemiological concepts underpinning critical appraisal, including measures of disease frequency, types of epidemiological study
  5. become familiar with methodological problems in generating relevant evidence, and the gap between evidence, practice and policy.


CONSTITUENCY
The core constituency are MSc Tropical Medicine & International Health, Medical Parasitology and Biology and Control of Disease Vectors students. Other students who want a basic grounding in evidence-based medicine may participate.


CONCEPTUAL OUTLINE
The core content includes:

  1. Clinical and public health problems illustrating an evidence based approach.
  2. Skills in searching and accessing relevant evidence. 
  3. Components of quantitative health care evidence: diagnosis, prognosis, effectiveness, decision making.
  4. Critical appraisal of primary evidence, including interpretation of results from simple methods of analysis.
  5. Uses and limitations of high quality clinical databases.

This material is built upon elsewhere (in term 2 and 3 modules, e.g. decision analysis, effectiveness, clinical databases, and in project work) and is an important basic introduction for those who will pursue these concepts further in later modules.  We aim to equip students to become informed consumers of research evidence in their professional lives. 


TEACHING STRATEGY
Lectures describing the evidence-base for health care, followed by linked problem-based practical and seminars to allow students to apply material from lectures. 


LEARNING TIME
The module is made up of 100 Notional Learning Hours – 30 hours contact time, 20 hours directed self-study, 10 hours self-directed learning, and 40 hours assessment, review and revision.


ASSESSMENT
There will be an assignment, undertaken in groups, which could be a critical appraisal of a piece of primary evidence and application of the evidence to a clinical scenario, which is not formally graded as part of the MSc assessment. Formal assessment is by written exam in June.

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