Introduction to medical research

Citation file:The goal of this text provide you with the tools and skills you need to be a and consumer of medical statistics. This goal has guided the selection of material and in the presentation of chapter outlines the reasons physicians, medical students,And others in the health care field should know biostatistics. These topics and ic to epidemiology are discussed in more detail in the , medical epidemiology (greenberg,2000). Access to this enter user enter in via in via free access through your t your institution's library to ask if they subscribe to mcgraw-hill medical a free myaccess profile to:Use this site rk your favorite your self-assessment access to this access to all of medicine full site: one-year individual all subscription -up div successfully div only appears when the trigger link is hovered ise it is hidden from the characters you see , we just need to make sure you're not a robot. Pmcid: pmc2590769nihmsid: nihms79490a basic introduction to research: how not to do researchandrew j. Vickers, memorial sloan-kettering cancer center, 1275 york avenue, ny, ny 10021, @asrekciv, t: 646 735 8142author information ► copyright and license information ►copyright notice and disclaimersee other articles in pmc that cite the published ctin this didactic paper, i review some prevalent “myths” about clinical research: anyone can do research; you can learn how to do research from a book or journal articles; all you need to do statistics is the right software (although excel will also do); you can do good quality research at your kitchen sink; what is important is that you did your best. They are based on a clear double standard: most clinicians would express shock and horror at the very thought that someone without appropriate clinical training and qualifications might treat a patient; meanwhile many clinicians do research with no research qualifications whatsoever.

But clinical research can guide clinical decisions that affect the health and well-being of millions of people: it is therefore arguable that poorly conducted research is potentially far more harmful than poor medical practice. As such, it is doubly important that clinical research is conducted by those with appropriate training, statistical help and institutional ds: research design, complementary medicineintroductionin this didactic paper, i offer some personal reflections on perhaps the most common mistake made by beginning researchers: that clinical research is not particularly difficult and can be done by pretty much anyone, regardless of training and experience. I will explain my views by examining several “myths” about research that i believe to be particularly common in the complementary and alternative medicine community. I will end by making some practical suggestions to counter each of these 1: anyone can do clinical researcha friend of mine who is a professional mountaineer recently received the following email from a local hiking group: “dear sir, we would like to climb a mountain in the himalayas, perhaps something 22 – 25,000 feet high. That is because it is obvious to anyone: try to climb a himalayan mountain without an experienced leader and you are going to get yourself al research appears to be a different matter, however. There is a widespread impression that clinical research can be done by almost anyone, regardless of prior skills or experience. I get emails similar in form to the one above regularly; for a recent example, “i want to do some research on massage and need an outcome measure.

What i suggested was that the enquirer find an experienced researcher with whom to work. Many clinicians i have met have a double standard: on the one hand, those engaged in clinical activities must have the proper training and experience; on the other hand, anyone can do research. Meanwhile many clinicians do research with no research qualifications is perhaps most clearly brought home at ‘research days’ where complementary practitioners, acupuncturists say, attend a few seminars hoping to learn how to do clinical research. Yet whilst ‘research days’ continue to proliferate and ‘acupuncture days’ are unheard of, it is arguable that it is medical research that requires more training (see table). And qualifications for acupuncture compared to researchmyth 2: you can learn how to do research from a book or journal articlesi was recently asked to review a paper that described an ‘n-of-1’ trial of a complementary therapy. It was not hard to see why the authors had gone so badly wrong: they had no formal training in research methods, they had never previously conducted an n-of-1 trial and they were not working at an institution where such trials (or anything remotely similarly) had been conducted. The authors had based their methods on a chapter in a complementary medicine research textbook.

The first problem, which is fairly typical of those writing about complementary medicine research, is that the author of this chapter had no experience whatsoever of n-of-1 methodology (similarly, the journal that asked me to review this paper published one entitled ‘how to conduct a survey’, written by an author with no significant survey publications). Give an inexperienced researcher a methodology textbook and similarly, all you’ll end up with is broken 3: all you need to do statistics is the right software (although excel will also do)the other day i sat down in front of microsoft word and typed ‘now is the winter of our discontent. Again we see the double standard: to be a clinician takes years of training; to be a statistician, all you need is some software and familiarity with the ‘paste’ i read any medical paper, one of the first things i do is to glance over the list of authors. On balance though, if i’m sick, i want to see someone with a plaque on the 4: you can do good quality research at your kitchen sinkit is almost impossible to enumerate in full the physical and intellectual resources that are taken for granted by those working in large research institutions. Working at such a hospital also means that research protocols are evaluated by expert committees of researchers who can offer guidance and it really possible that the isolated practitioner, working alone without expert help or any significant research facilities, can really produce good clinical science? I can’t say i’m 100% sure, but it is difficult to think of many 5: what is important is that you did your besti was once asked to read a report of a clinical trial conducted by a medical student. A medical researcher who tried to treat a sick patient and messed up through lack of skills, knowledge and training would rightly be excoriated; “it was my first patient” or “i did my best” would be no defense, and no comfort, to the injured party.

Why the double standard such that it is somehow okay to mess up research, but not medicine, through inexperience, ignorance and lack of resources? Clinical research can guide clinical decisions that affect the health and well-being of millions of people. Bad research can therefore be just as harmful as bad medicine, perhaps even more so. Until this is more widely realized, and clinicians accordingly pay much more attention to the skills, training and resources needed for high quality science, it is likely that much of the research we see in journals will continue to be little more than the intellectual equivalent of karaoke night. How not how not to do research” isn’t very catchy, but when you think about it, that pretty much describes the scientific process: we find out what leads us astray (contaminated test tubes, uncontrolled studies) and try to avoid it (wash glassware, randomize). Here are some practical suggestions to counter each of the myths i discuss in this 1: anyone can do research irrespective of skills and experiencewe can take the mountain climbing analogy one step further. You wouldn’t try to climb annapurna without going along with someone who had already some experience of himalayan mountaineering; accordingly, if you want to do a clinical trial, have a researcher on your team who has done a trial previously; if you want to do molecular marker study, include someone with a track record of publications in that 2: you can learn how to do research from a book or journal articlesmost researchers will tell you that some kind of formal training in research methods is an essential basis for a research career, but also that hands-on experience is critical.

If you really want an active research career, you will need to consider a higher degree. Someone who wants to specialize in research should think about a doctorate, otherwise, a masters’ in clinical epidemiology, public health or biostatistics would provide an excellent foundation for subsequent clinical research activities. In either case, you will need to get experience on as many different research studies as possible during and after you complete your 3: all you need to do statistics is the right softwareincorporation of biostatistical help is cited by experienced investigators as one of the key determinants of the success or failure of a research program. 4: you can do good quality research at your kitchen sinkobtain a position at an institution that has a good research infrastructure and high-quality 5: what is important is that you did your bestconstantly ask whether you are doing research for the right reasons: why is it that you want that grant? Medical research shouldn’t be about the researcher, it should be about the people who might be helped by the researcher’s ledgmentsdr vickers’ work on this research was funded by a p50-ca92629 spore from the national cancer s:article | pubreader | epub (beta) | pdf (270k) | s on this use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. Click 'find out more' for information on how to change your cookie uction to medical research: essential uction to medical research: essential ‘introduction to medical research: essential skills’ course provides an overview of key steps and common methods in medical research and its course is provided by oucags in collaboration with the equator network, an expert provider in health research education. It is available to oxford foundation school doctors free of course is divided into four modules which run over four saturday mornings during the michaelmas and trinity terms, at the john radcliffe hospital:Research planning: before you start your research project  lays the foundation for getting involved in medical research, from basic research conduct principles through to building the evidence base underpinning a research ch design and protocols  introduces the main types of study design and the skills required to critically appraise a research study, and explores the practicalities of writing a tical thinking  introduces the basics of medical statistics, such as understanding sampling, and making inferences from samples to ch publication and dissemination  covers the process of getting your research published in peer-reviewed journals or presented at find out when the next courses will be run and be put on the course's mailing list, email oucags@ght © oxford university images / ps:unlimited -- all rights academic foundation programme (afp).

For external chresearch departments, centers, initiatives and ay library of researcher rvard medicine up for email make a gift gn steering uction to clinical research /departments/introduction to clinical research uction to clinical research training introduction to clinical research ulumonline lectures and ic and attendance ntly asked of global m overviewthe introduction to clinical research program is designed to provide students with a strong foundation in clinical research and enhance skills in networking and program’s six-month curriculum emphasizes skill based peer-to-peer learning. The curriculum covers introduction to epidemiology, introduction to biostatistics, programming in stata, study design, ethical issues in research, scientific writing, as well as management and leadership introduction to clinical research training program is rooted in the belief that clinical research training is important for development not only in terms of becoming better clinicians, but also becoming better independent investigators. The skill sets that students acquire in icrt can be the foundation of multifaceted careers in clinical the completion of the icrt program, students will be able to:► describe the core concepts of biostatistics and epidemiology pertaining to clinical research. With an mbbs, md, phd, dmd, dds, pharmd, dnp, dpt, rd or equivalent degree with an interest in gaining skills and knowledge in clinical our admissions page to learn more about the application process and available admission deposit deadlinenovember 17, r application deadlinenovember 24, what students have to say about introduction to clinical research training >>.