APPR0333-1 : Searching for pertinent information in the context of evidence-based medicine

Study Programmes 2016-2017

APPR0333-1

Searching for pertinent information in the context of evidence-based medicine

Duration :

15h Th, 15h Pr

Number of credits :

Bachelor in medicine		2

Lecturer :

Nancy Durieux, Gilles Henrard, Sandrina Vandenput

Coordinator :

N...

Language(s) of instruction :

French language

Organisation and examination :

Teaching in the second semester

Units courses prerequisite and corequisite :

Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program

Learning unit contents :

The main challenge faced by all health professionals is to manage the overabundance of information, in order to keep their knowledge up to date and evolve in their everyday practice. But where can relevant information be found? What should they read? To a lesser extent, students are faced with the same challenge, as they are required to solve problems and write assignments that meet the standards of scientific publication. The course's goal is to present the foundations of evidence-based medicine. Evidence-based medicine (EBM) structures medical analysis through three perspectives: the practician's clinical experience, the best data obtained from research, and the patients' expectations.
The course focuses on the methods used to research, identify and evaluate the most reliable clinical studies (based on evidence), which may guide the diagnosis, the prognosis, or the choice of a treatment in a given context.
It is divided into three parts:

The analysis of a situation and the formulation of a structured question that will serve as a starting point for a systematic exploration of the medical literature;
The presentation of the principles of scientific communication, along with an inventory of the various sources of medical information and a comparison of features offered by major specialised search engines;
The acquisition of critical reading habits. This course's particularity is that its main goal is to help students acquire know-how. There are no theoretical contents that must be memorised. This is why practical assignments are interwoven with theoretical lectures.

Learning outcomes of the learning unit :

After receiving training on the methods of evidence-based medicine, students should be able to work more autonomously, apply critical thinking skills, master the use of various information resources, and understand and follow the rules of scientific communication. In concrete terms, they should be able to:

Recognise a need for information;
Formulate it using a specific question;
Choose the types of documents and resources that will have to be consulted;
Communicate efficiently with specialised search engines and databases;
Adapt their research strategies to the goals pursued;
Select studies based on their relevance and level of evidence ; offer a critical perspective of randomised clinical trials (RCT) and systematic reviews, meta-analyses, or guidelines.

Prerequisite knowledge and skills :

Thorough knowledge of the scientific English features

Planned learning activities and teaching methods :

As this course is intended to help students acquire know-how, it offers many practical activities that follow a predetermined sequence and call upon the cognitive and practical skills that students should master. Lecture classes provide all the explanations and demonstrations that are used to complete individual assignments, which are then reviewed and corrected with the entire class.

Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning) :

In-person classes are starting in the second quarter (February 2017). It is organized so as to encourage students' active participation. There is no automatic entitlement to exemption.