UnitLevel 5Postgraduate

MPH5236 Clinical trials

Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences

MPH5236 Clinical trials is a level 5, 6-credit-point, postgraduate unit from the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, offered in 2020 in Semester 1 at Alfred Hospital. It needs MPH5040 and MPH5041.

Credit points
6
Offered in 2020
Semester 1
Alfred Hospital

This is the 2020 handbook entry. See the 2027 entry.

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Requisites

After MPH5236

No unit lists MPH5236 as a prerequisite in the 2020 handbook.

Overview

The term "clinically proven", used throughout even the lay vernacular, highlights the high status of clinical trials in health research. This is because clinical trials provide the most robust evidence of the benefits of healthcare interventions; they are the 'gold standard' study design.

A solid understanding of clinical trials is a key requirement for anyone working in clinical research, or who need to interpret the results of clinical research.

This unit will equip students with the skills to formulate research questions, design appropriate clinical trials, select and recruit study subjects, conduct randomisation, analyse data, interpret findings, manage outcomes and consider issues of ethics, budget and quality assurance. It will also endow students with the skills to critically appraise clinical trials.

Offerings in 2020

Teaching periodCampusMode
First semesterAlfred HospitalBlock on
First semester (Fully flex)Alfred HospitalFlexible

Learning outcomes

When you finish this unit, you should be able to:

  1. 1

    Examine the principles of clinical trials and understand their role in informing healthcare practice and policy.

  2. 2

    Critically analyse the theoretical approaches to clinical trials, including different types of clinical trials, and the strengths and limitations of each.

  3. 3

    Formulate a meaningful question that has relevance to clinical practice or public health, design the right trial for the question, and articulate this design in a study protocol.

  4. 4

    Critically appraise a published clinical trial in order to determine its validity or otherwise to real-life practice and policy.

  5. 5

    Explain the importance of communication between key stakeholders in clinical trials.

  6. 6

    Investigate the practical considerations of undertaking clinical trials, including planning, gaining ethics approval, recruitment and retention of subjects, measurement of outcomes and data analyses.

Workload and teaching

6 hours of teacher-directed learning activities per week, and 6 hours of self-directed study per week, plus two compulsory on-campus Block Days.

Contacts

Chief Examiners
Professor Danny Liew
Unit Coordinators
Professor Danny Liew

Common questions

What are the prerequisites for MPH5236?

You need MPH5040 and MPH5041 before you enrol.

When is MPH5236 offered?

In 2020, MPH5236 runs in Semester 1 at Alfred Hospital.

More details

Credit points
6
Level
5
Study level
Postgraduate
Faculty
Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences
Organisational unit
Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine
Type
Coursework
EFTSL
0.125
Student contribution
SCA Band 2
Study abroad
Not available