Evidence Based Health Care (Medical Statistics) MSc

University of Oxford

This is a course for health professionals who wish to strengthen their statistical skills and ability to analyse data. Students will gain confidence in carrying out the methods that are widely used in medical statistics, and interpreting the results for the practice of evidence-based health care.

This course is designed for doctors, nurses, pharmacists, midwives and other healthcare professionals, seeking to consolidate their understanding and ability in medical statistics. Core modules introduce the students to methods for observational and clinical trials research. Optional modules offer the students skills in growth areas such as systematic review, meta-analysis, and big data epidemiology, or specialist areas such as statistical computing, diagnosis and screening research and others.

The course aims to give students high competence in the concepts, methods, terminology and interpretation of medical statistics; and hence, enhance their ability to carry out their own research and to interpret published evidence.

Students should gain:

• competence in execution and interpretation of core statistical techniques used by medical statisticians, particularly those used in multivariable analyses: multiple linear regression, logistic regression, and survival modelling, statistical analysis plans and statistical reporting
• competence in execution and interpretation of core statistical techniques used by medical statisticians in clinical trials
• competence in execution and interpretation of four other areas, selected by the student from the following options: meta-analysis; systematic review; big data epidemiology; statistical computing; diagnosis and screening; study design and research methods
• hands-on experience, supervised by a senior member of our medical statistics team, of the analysis or meta-analysis of healthcare data, in order to address a question in evidence-based health care.

Compared to the main EBHC course, MSc in Evidence-Based Health Care, this will suit those with basic statistical understanding who now seek deeper understanding on a broader base of statistical methods.

This is a joint course offered between the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences and the Department for Continuing Education. The programme works in collaboration with the renowned Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine in Oxford.

This course has teachers and contributors who are internationally recognised leaders in the field of evidence-based practice and teaching. The flexible structure of the course has been devised to fit with the structure of specialist training and to accommodate student choice.

Teaching is tailored to non-statisticians and delivered by an experienced team of tutors from University of Oxford who bridge the disciplines of medical statistics and evidence-based health care.

Course structure

The MSc in Evidence-Based Health Care (Medical Statistics) is a part-time course. There are two compulsory modules, four option modules (two must be from group 1 and then either one from group 1 and one from group 2, or two more from group 2) and a dissertation.

Compulsory Modules:

• Essential Medical Statistics
• Statistics for Clinical Trials

Optional Modules currently available- 1:

• Meta-analysis
• Big Data Epidemiology
• Statistical Computing for Health Care Research
• Clinical Prediction Rules

Optional Modules currently available - 2:

• Introduction to Study Design and Research Methods
• Systematic Reviews or Complex Reviews
• Evidence-based Diagnosis and Screening