CMED Medical Research corequisite for COMM 311

Course contents

 

The student is required to plan, carry out a research and write a paper using prescribed format and protocols, on one of the important health problems in Saudi Arabia under the supervision of a staff member. Supervisors from other departments will be needed to participate because of the big number of students. The student may use the data collected in the clinical educational experience as the basis for a research paper. This is intended to promote self-education and independent learning and to help the integration between Family and Community and other clinical disciplines. It is also meant as an exercise in epidemiological methods and biostatistics. The course also involves a series of lectures that prepare the student for this task.

 

Specific Course Objectives

Supervised research is designed to train the student to:

1.     Think epidemiologically.

2.     Carry out objective literature review.

3.     Plan and carry out surveys in populations the proper sampling       methods.

4.     Observe and record the characteristics of the units examined (e.g.           cases of disease).

5.     Tabulate and analyze the data.

6.     Assess the volume of the problem in the community studied.

7.     Describe the pattern of distribution of the problem and its association    with determining factors, and draw valid conclusion.

8.     Be able to suggest reasonable intervention based on the findings.

 

Didactic Component include (conducted as part of COMM-311)

        *      Principles of epidemiological research.

        *      Survey design

        *      Types of study: case-control study; case-series study; knowledge,             attitude and practice ... etc.

        *      Practical aspects of conduct of study.

        *      Questionnaire design.

        *      Computers in medical research

        *      Data presentation and analysis

        *      Scientific writing

 

Methods of Teaching:.

• By having teaching sessions on the concepts of Research Methodology and Biostatistics.
• By grouping students into small groups under the supervision of faculty members, for assigning a research topic of their interest in areas of infectious, non-infectious diseases, community related surveys, hospital management problems and patient’s problems.
• By conducting the periodical interactive practical sessions with students for literature review, questionnaire development, sampling procedures, data collection, data management data analysis and report writing.
• By organizing a session for the final representation of research report, so as to evaluate each student’s contribution to the report.

Evaluation

A.    Continuous Assessment

        1.     Evaluation of research protocol

        2.     Evaluation of the draft paper

        3.     Practical exercises

B.    Final Assessment

        1.     Evaluation of the final report

        2.     Written Examination

 

Text Book

 

1. 1.            Practical Epidemiology by Barker DJP.
2. 2.            An introduction to Biostatistics by Martin Bland.