Division of Clinical Research and Training

The 16^th annual one week course on ‘Health Research Methodology and Evidence Based Medicine (HRM-EBM) was conducted by Division of Clinical research and training (DCRT), St. John’s Research Institute, in collaboration with faculty from McMaster University, Canada, from 17^th  to 21^st  February 2025.

Objectives of the course:

• To familiarize a wide range of health professionals in fundamentals of health research methods, and in evidence based medicine.
• To provide an opportunity to interact with like-minded professionals from varied health fields and to explore collaborations.

Participants:

We had 63 participants from 36 institutes who represented 22 cities from India, Maldives and Sri Lanka.

Faculty:

The faculty were from St. John’s Medical College, St. John’s Research Institute, Bangalore, Public Health Foundation of India, New Delhi & McMaster University, Canada.

McMaster University, Canada

• Dr. Gordon Guyatt
• Dr. P J Devereaux

St. John's Medical College, Bangalore

• Dr. Atiya Faruqui
• Dr. AR Ramesh
• Dr. Deepak Kamath
• Dr. Denis Xavier
• Dr. Tinku Thomas

Public Health Foundation of India, New Delhi

• Dr. Prabhakaran Dorairaj

St. John’s Research Institute, Bangalore

• Dr. Prem Pais

Course methods:

We had 19 interactive lectures, 4 small group protocol discussions, 4 journal clubs and 4 project presentations. There were 14 lectures on health research methods, 4 on statistics and 2 on project management. The topics were on study design and methods, ethics, grants and publications, project & data management, evidence-based medicine, real world evidence and statistics with interactive practical sessions in SPSS.

The lectures on principles and practice of evidence-based medicine (EBM) was by Dr. Gordon Guyatt and Dr. P J Devereaux from McMaster University, Canada. The faculty provided an overview of the evolution of EBM, practice of EBM with appropriate examples and the need for collaboration. Dr. Prabhakaran Dorairaj from PHFI, India, spoke on the methods of developing health services, rationale of knowledge translation and strategies of working with policy makers.

The small group activities included four journal clubs (Registry/Cross sectional study, Case Control, Randomized Controlled Trial and Systematic Review/Meta-analysis) and four project presentations (Registry/Cross sectional study, Case Control, Cohort study and Randomized Controlled Trial).

The 4 Zen protocol sessions were conducted with discussions between the group members and the faculty on the research question, design, methods, data analysis & budget. The projects developed during the sessions were presented at the end of the course. The speakers for journal clubs and project presentations were picked up randomly. After the presentations, the full group was invited on stage to answer questions from the audience and faculty.

There were 2 categories of awards for the participants

 1. Dr. David Sackett Memorial Award

 2. Dr. Gordon Guyatt Team Award

Dr. David Sackett Memorial Award was presented to the top 5 participants.

Dr. Gordon Guyatt Team Award was presented to Group A.

Valedictory

The course ended on 21st Feb with valedictory function. A valedictory report was presented by the Course Director. Two participants from each group provided feedback on the course. The Valedictory function was attended by Dr. Tony D S Raj, Dean of Research Institute, faculty, staff & students.

The awards were announced by the Course Director Dr. Denis Xavier. Plaques and Certificates were handed over to the participants by Dean, SJRI.