Leader: Dr E Beller

Offered

Alfred Hospital First semester 2008 (Off-campus)

Synopsis

Practical applications of statistical methods in clinical and diagnostic settings. Methods for assessment of clinical agreement, statistical properties of diagnostic tests and their interpretation, statistical and ethical issues involved in screening tests & fundamentals of modelling for clinical prediction. In-depth analysis of issues in systematic reviews of medical research studies, including selection and appraisal of studies, levels of evidence, meta-analytic methods for estimating effect sizes using fixed and random effect models, assessing heterogeneity and publication bias.

Objectives

On completion of this course students should be able to:

1. demonstrate a broad understanding of statistical methods in evidence-based health care;
2. determine appropriate statistical methods of particular relevance to evidence-based health care in particular clinical applications; and
3. correctly employ these statistical methods and have the skills to effectively communicate with clinicians on the application of these methods and interpretation of results.

Assessment

Written assignments (100%).

Prerequisites

MPH1040 and EPM5002

Co-requisites

EPM5003