BMS1042

Biomedical sciences and society ( 6 points, SCA Band 2, 0.125 EFTSL)

Leader: Professor David Taylor (Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine)

Offered:
Clayton Second semester 2006 (Day)

Synopsis: Applications of epidemiological and statistical methods to typical problems from biomedical literature. Ethical and legal issues, especially the terms set out by society for the conduct of biomedical endeavour. Much emphasis is placed on epidemiological principles, research study design, diagnostic and screening tests and statistical analysis of data.

Objectives: On successful completion of this unit, students will 1. Understand why statistics are used 2. Understand the different forms of biomedical data 3. Be able to present biomedical data as summary statistics and in a graphical form 4. Understand basic statistical methods and when to apply them 5. Understand how these relate to more complex statistical methods 6. Be able to interpret statistical results from biomedical literature 7. Understand the strengths and weaknesses of different epidemiological study designs which form the building blocks of human research models 8. Be able to critically appraise biomedical literature 9. Understand what is meant by an ethical judgement or value 10. Understand the place of ethics in medicine and biology and how this is shaped by society and the media 11. Understand how research ethics applies to humans and animals 12. Understand how ethical considerations are translated into legislation

Assessment: Written examination: 50% + Critical appraisal of biomedical literature: 25% + Research Study Design: 25%

Contact Hours: Biostatistics 3 hours per week, Epidemiology/Ethics 3 Hours per week