Systematic Reviews for Public Health and Biomedical Research

Program Description

Systematic reviews (SR) are increasingly used to inform clinical and public health practice. SR seek to collate all evidence that fits pre-specified eligibility criteria in order to address a specific research question. This 3-day course will present an overview of the explicit and systematic methods used in SR to minimize bias. Together we will learn step by step how to actually perform, report, and critically appraise SR. We will focus primarily on methods for SR of randomized trials and will discuss how to extend them to SR of observational studies. Participants are encouraged to register for our companion 2-day course on meta-analysis.

Competencies

Participants will learn to:

  • Identify the critical steps when planning a systematic review
  • Plan a search strategy to identify studies in published and grey literature and carry it out
  • Select studies and collect data
  • Assess risk of bias in selected studies and address reporting bias
  • Report and discuss the results of systematic reviews

Intended Audience

Clinicians, researchers, public health specialists and other health care professionals who want to perform and/or evaluate systematic reviews

Required knowledge/pre-requisites

Basic knowledge of study designs. Participants must bring a laptop.

Course Information

Length: 20 Hours

Categories:

Systematic Reviews for Public Health and Biomedical Research (SI 18)