6 points, SCA Band 2, 0.125 EFTSL
Postgraduate - Unit
Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered.
Faculty
Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences
Organisational Unit
Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine
Chief examiner(s)
Coordinator(s)
Unit guides
Synopsis
Critical appraisal of literature reviews; problem formulation and protocol development; intra-rater agreement for assessment of relevance; validity assessments; data collection forms; variation between study findings, combining the findings of independent studies, inferences based upon overviews; statistics of meta analysis, Cochrane Collaboration.
Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:
- Formulate a structured question for a systematic review of randomised controlled trials, and understand the motivations for doing a systematic review;
- Develop a protocol (or planned methods) for a systematic review;
- Conduct a systematic review in a small group that conforms to accepted standards;
- Clearly report the systematic review;
- Assess the quality of systematic reviews conducted by others, and apply the results to clinical practice.
Assessment
- Critically appraise a published systematic review - written report (20%);
- Report of a protocol or plan of a systematic review of randomised controlled trials - group written report (20%);
- Report of a systematic review of randomised controlled trials - group written report (50%) (hurdle)
- Online participation in Moodle discussions (10%)