Programme Objectives

  
The programme is geared toward those with a background in an area related to healthcare, including students and professionals in areas including medicine, pharmacy, nursing, nutrient & dietetics, physical therapy, occupational therapy and any other health care related field. The structure of the certificate programme comprises of three different segments (Course I to 3) from a basic overview of most common methods used in clinical research to more advanced concepts of clinical research design and methods.

Course Delivery

The lectures are delivered via Voice Annotated Presentations (VAPs), which can be conveniently accessed over a smartphone, laptop or a tablet, optimised for self-directed or team-based learning. Upon successful completion of the programme, participants will be awarded a verifiable digital certificate by Duke-NUS Medical School.

 

Courses

Course 1: Deciphering the Literature of Clinical Research

Course 1 in this programme has two main goals. First, to provide the learner with an overview of the basic concepts most commonly used in medical literature and clinical research. Second, to provide a forum for health care professionals to acquire the basic skills needed to perform clinical research studies.

Topics

Course 2: Deciphering Statistical Methods

Healthcare professionals and medical students need to be able to critically assess statistical method sections in journal publications in order to evaluate study conclusions. Furthermore, clinicians may want to perform their own statistical analyses and/or may wish to have a meaningful conversation with biostatisticians. All of this requires knowledge and skills of basic statistical analyses. Course 2 in this program aims to provide the healthcare professional with an understanding of statistical concepts and principles most commonly used in clinical research.

Topics

• Confidence Intervals
• Statistical Significance
• Multiple Comparisons
• Statistical Tests
• Regression Analyses
• Additional Tests
• Advice

Course 3: Clinical Research Principles

Courses 1 and 2 provided the learner with didactic background to critically decipher the clinical research literature and the basic statistical concepts used in clinical research. Course 3 will provide the healthcare professional with the skills to formulate a competitive research proposal and to successfully publish the study result. The main focus is on discussion of the key elements of a research study proposal. A general review of study design and more specifically on the design of clinical trials is also included. The last part of Course 3 focuses on writing a scientific research paper and presenting research results.

Topics

• The Research Proposal
• Review of General Study Designs
• Study Designs – Clinical and Randomised Clinical Trials
• Result Dissemination

Target Audience

Course 1: Deciphering the Literature of Clinical Research

Health Care Professionals and students that strive to acquire skills on how to decipher the medical literature and to critically evaluate the medical literature in their field. Health Care Professionals that aim at performing clinical research studies.

Course 2: Deciphering Statistical Methods

Health Care Professionals and students that strive to acquire skills on statistical concepts and principles to critically assess the statistical methods presented in clinical research studies. Furthermore, Health Care Professionals involved in clinical research studies.

Course 3: Clinical Research Principles

Health Care Professionals and students that are involved in clinical research studies or are interested to pursue clinical research as part of their career.