Lectures for theis course are delivered as part of the integrated Year 3 MBBS Program.

Students will need to work in small groups outside the scheduled program to meet the course requirements.

1. To understand the role of research to inform excellence in clinical practice
2. Learn the principles, practices and processes of scientific enquiry
3. Plan a small research project involving experimental design or qualitative research methodologies where relevant.
4. Assess the strengths and weaknesses of a published paper, and its relevance to clinical pratice or medical science.
5. Learn how to keep up-to-date with research.
6. Carry out independent learning and work effectively

There are no required resources for this course.

Research Design Resources

Bordage, G & Dawson, B 2003, “Experimental study design and grant writing in eight steps and 28 questions’, Medical Education, vol. 37, p. 376-385.

Grimes DA & Schulz KF, 2002, “An overview of clinical research: the lay of the land.” The Lancet, vol.359, issue 9300, p. 8.

Hansen, E 2006, Successful qualitative health research: a practical introduction, Allen and Unwin, Crows Nest.

Moher, D, Schulz, KF, Altman, DG 2001, ‘The CONSORT statement: revised recommendations for improving the quality of reports of parallel group randomised trials. BMC Medical Research Methodology, vol. 1, p. 2

Riegelman, RK 2000, Studying a study and testing a test, 4th edn. Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins, Philadelphia PA.

Rossenfeldt, FL, Dowling, JT, Pepe, S & Fulleton, M 2000, ‘How to write a paper for publication’, Heart Lung and Circulation, vol. 9, p. 82-87.

Critical Appraisal resources

Introductory paper: “How to critically appraise an article” by Young and Solomon
http://www.nature.com/nrgastro/journal/v6/n2/pdf/ncpgasthep1331.pdf

Site with checklist style worksheets for the critical appraisal of different types of research http://www.casp-uk.net/find-appraise-act/appraising-the-evidence/

Elwood, M 2000, Critical appraisal of epidemiological studies and clinical trials, OUP, Oxford, New York.

Greenhalgh, T 2010, How to Read a Paper: The Basics of Evidence-Based Medicine. Wiley BlackwellPublishing, Oxford.

Research Ethics

Emanuel, EJ, Wendler, D & Grady C 2000, ‘What makes clinical research ethical?’, Journal of the American Medical Association, vol 283, p. 2701-2711.

Overview:  www.nhmrc.gov.au/health-ethics

Ethical issues checklist for human research:
https://webdev.adelaide.edu.au/ethics/human/guidelines/levels/HREC_Ethics_Checklist.doc

Ethical requirements in animal, genetic and human research: www.adelaide.edu.au/ethics/

Indigenous health: www.nhmrc.gov.au/your-health/indigenous-health

Regulations on the procurement and use of human tissue/ cadavers:
www.legislation.sa.gov.au/LZ/C/A/Transplantation%20and%20Anatomy%20Act%201983.aspx

Informed consent, use of case notes, de-identification, confidentiality and privacy:
www.privacy.gov.au/publications/e26.pdf

Examples of Research Ethics approval committees and their requirements:

www.adelaide.edu.au/ethics/human/guidelines/index.html

www.rah.sa.gov.au/rec/

www.tqeh.sa.gov.au/public/content/default.asp?xcid=158


Group Work and Peer Assessment

Group Work: http://www.monash.edu.au/lls/llonline/quickrefs/24-groupwork.xml

Peer Assessment:  http://sydney.edu.au/business/learning/students/study_research_writing/groupwork/finishing_well/self_peer_assessment

Statistics Resources

Bland, M 2000, An introduction to medical statistics, 3rd edn, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Campbell, MJ & Machin, D 2000, Medical statistics: a commonsense approach, John Wiley & Sons, New York.

Dawson-Saunders, B & Trapp, RG 1994, Basic and clinical biostatistics, Appleton & Lange, Norwalk.

Gore, SM & Altman, DG 1991, Statistics in practice, British Medical Association, London.

Petrie, A & Sabin, C 2009, Medical statistics at a glance, 3rd edn, Wiley-Blackwell, New Jersey.


Referencing Style

The University of Adelaide’s Harvard Referencing Style: http://www.adelaide.edu.au/writingcentre/referencing_guides/


Endnote guide

The University of Adelaide library’s guide to Endnote:
http://libguides.adelaide.edu.au/mbbs

How to export from PubMed into Endnote, especially see section on how to convert to full Journal titles
http://www.adelaide.edu.au/library/guide/med/end.html

There are a range of online resources available in the recommended resources.

There are two main components of this course: The Research Proposal and the Critical Appraisal.  Both activities have a strong focus on working collaboratively in teams.  Each component is supported by a series of lectures.

Research Proposal
Students work in small groups under the supervision of a Academic staff member or Clinical titleholder to produce a research proposal.  Students will form their own Research Proposal Groups (comprising 4 students), approach potential supervisors, and work with the identified supervisor to develop and coordinate their research project proposal.

Critical Appraisal
Students work in pairs to critically appraise a published research paper with respect to scientific rationale, methodology, interpretation of results, conclusions, and contribution to medical knowledge or clinical practice.

Provided students work systematically through the two activities within their groups, the workload for this course is manageable.

The primary mode is small group learning for the development of the Research Proposal and the Critical appraisal.  Students will need to demonstrate the ability to self direct their learning with support, and time manage their projects.

Further details will be provide in the Course Handbook.

The course requires students to participate in small groups for both the research proposal and critical appraisal task.  These tasks cannot be completed individually.

The final mark (out of 100) is based on assessments carried out over the full year (in Part 1 and Part 2).

Assessment Task	Task Type	Timing	Weighting	Course Learning Outcome(s0 Assessed
Core skills online modules	Summative	Semester 1	12% (8 x1.5%)	1, 2, 5, 6
Final research proposal	Summative	Semester 2	50%	1, 2, 3, 6
Critical appraisal - oral presentation	Summative	Semester 2	25%	1, 2, 4, 6
Groupwork log	Summative	Semester 2	5%	3
Supervisor assessment	Summative	Semester 2	8%	2, 5, 6

Academic Progression Requirements
Progression from one year to the next in the MBBS is dependent on the student successfully completing a compulsory annual examination course in which a full year’s learning is assessed.

To progress into year 4 a student must pass MEDIC ST 3000A and 3000B - Third Year MBBS Examination Part 1 and Part 2 courses and have achieved a pass in all year level components (24 units).

To successfully complete the MEDIC ST 3000A and MEDIC ST 3000B courses, the student must pass the end of year examinations and have successfully completed all year level component courses (24 units).

IF a student fails the compulsory examination course no passing grade will be received for any core medical studies courses.

IF a student has not completed all required MEDIC ST units of the year they must successfully complete an appropriate remedial course of the same or greater value as specified in Term 4 of the same academic year.

A student will only be eligible for summer school if the following criteria are met:
• The student does not have a recorded breach of genuine academic misconduct;
• The student has completed all core assessment tasks within the failed course;
• The student has attended more than 80% of core teaching activities across the academic year, within the failed course.

A marking grid will be privided to all students which indicates how their final overall band will be determined.

The final individual band is based on their final proposal band, groupwork ( satisfactory, borderline, unsatisfactory) and Supervision Attendance (group Work Logs)

Students attendance and contribution is an important element of the assessment.

Details of the assessment grids are provided within the course.

Complete assessment requirements for the MBBS Program and this Course  are set out in the year level assessment documents distributed at the start of each year.

Details of the submission requirements will be provided in the Course.  Students may be required to submit the work through Turnitin.

Students will be provided with formative feedback on progress at the end of semester 1.

Students should familarise themselves with the University Policy on Additional Assessment/Replacement Assessment.

The MBBS Program has a regular program of evaluation.  In addition, student representatives are appointed to MBBS committees and are encouraged to report on issues of importance to students.

Students may access the University Health Practice, 61+ 08 83135050 http://www.adelaide.edu.au/student/health/
The MBBS Program website has details on Student well-being resources which can be accessed.

Please read the MBBS Program Code of Conduct