Systematic Reviews Training Unit
Institute of Child Health
and
Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust
and
Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON MEDICAL SCHOOL
Training Opportunities
The Systematic Reviews Training Unit (SRTU) offers training secondments in
systematic review methods. Training is open to clinicians from both medical
and paramedical disciplines, to public health trainees and to health service
researchers. The training is flexible and tailored to the needs of the
individual and lasts up to one year part-time. During this period, trainees
receive training in the skills required to carry out a systematic review and
produce a review under supervision.
The SRTU is funded by the North and South Thames Regional R&D programmes and
employs a part-time director, (epidemiologist), a full-time
administrator/information officer, and two lecturers (one statistician and
one systematic reviewer). Training is supplemented by two epidemiologists
(who also act as co-directors) and a librarian (1day/week) with specific
expertise in search strategies. The unit is supported by members of an
Advisory Group, based in the participating departments of the Institute of
Child Health, Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine and University College
London.
Aims of training:
To enable trainees:
· to develop the skills required to formulate answerable questions about the
effectiveness of health care practice and policy and conduct systematic
reviews of research evidence to address these questions
· to acquire an understanding of methods for effective dissemination and
promotion of the implementation of review findings
Structure of training:
Training attachments are for up to one year part-time. Each trainee has a
training supervisor from within the SRTU who draws up a training contract
specifying the needs of the trainee and the objectives of the training
programme. Trainees are expected to commit two and half days a week to
training during the normal academic year for part-time study. One day a
week is devoted to classroom learning covering five core modules: 1)
epidemiology and decision analysis; 2)critical appraisal of literature; 3)
systematic review strategies; 4) databases and search methods; 5)
statistical methods for meta-analysis.
Each trainee carries out a systematic review during the training period.
Training emphasises the overall process of the review, from definition of
specific questions to be examined to dissemination and implementation of
results. Trainees with limited experience in research methodology start
their secondment by receiving appropriate training in epidemiology and
statistics.
The course uses small group methods and encourages students to share
knowledge and experiences. Trainees receive a diploma in systematic review
methods after successfully completing the course.
Trainees from a range of backgrounds are eligible, including, clinical
practice (e.g. medicine, nursing, physiotherapy), public health medicine and
health-related research or practice. Many trainees come from a health
service unit with a brief to examine an issue of practical importance. Where
this is not the situation, the unit will use existing links with purchaser
and provider units to identify a relevant service unit within the Thames
regions, with which the trainee can work.
In order to provide high quality training and to ensure that the reviews
produced are of an appropriate standard, trainees require close supervision.
To this end, a review supervisor is allocated, in addition to a training
supervisor, to collaborate in the production of the final review. Review
supervisors are chosen for their relevant expertise and may be members of
the unit staff, the Advisory Group or outside institutions. For most
reviews a steering group is formed at the outset to guide formulation of the
questions, advise on conduct of the review and to comment on reports before
they are sent for external peer review.
Criteria for selection of trainees:
Training places are allocated partly on the basis of the quality of the
trainees and partly on the basis of the topic for review.
Trainees should ideally have some background and training in epidemiology or
statistics, although this is not essential. Preference will be given to
applicants from within the Thames regions.
Criteria for assessing the proposed topic include the existence of genuine
uncertainty and the burden of the condition in the community or on the
health service. The areas of research interest of members of the Advisory
Group include: child health, care of the elderly, cardiovascular disease,
primary care, genito-urinary medicine and public health medicine. A topic
falling within one of these broad areas would be an advantage.
We are keen to ensure that the results of systematic reviews influence
policy and practice. We therefore wish to attract applicants whose topic
covers an area that is of concern to the purchaser or provider unit from
which they are seconded and where the unit is prepared to make a commitment
to setting up a mechanism to consider the implications of the review and to
evaluating its influence.
Costs of training:
The salaries of most trainees should be covered by their source unit. Costs
of the training, supervision, publication and dissemination of findings are
met by the SRTU. In some circumstances, part or all of the salary is met by
a stipend from the SRTU.
Application procedure:
Applications in the form of a curriculum vitae and a one page letter
outlining a topic for review, detailing its relevance to the health service
unit in question, should be returned to Miss M Gollapalli, Administrator at
the Systematic Reviews Training Unit, Institute of Child Health, 30 Guilford
Street, London WC1N 1EH or via email on [log in to unmask] The closing
date for completed applications for the 1998/99 academic year is 1st July
1998. Eleven trainees will be taken on for this academic year, which runs
from October 1998 to September 1999.
Applicants who wish to have an informal discussion about training should
contact Dr Stuart Logan, Director of the SRTU on 0171 242 9789 ext 2268 or
via email on [log in to unmask]
In the meantime, systematic review methodology one day clinics will be run
throughout the year. A short course are also being run. Details of
forthcoming clinics and short courses are advertised on the Unit’s home
page: http://www.ich.ucl.ac.uk/srtu.
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Leanne Jones
Administrator/Information Officer
Systematic Reviews Training Unit
Institute of Child Health
30 Guilford Street
London WC1N 1EH
Tel: +44-(0)171 242 9789 ext.2203
Fax: +44-(0)171 813 8233
Email: [log in to unmask]
WWW: http://www.ich.ucl.ac.uk/srtu
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