Randomised Controlled Trials (RCT) Training Module

Are you confident in assessing the quality of the research you find? This is where critical appraisal and specifically using the CASP checklist for randomised controlled trials can help.

It's important that individuals and organisations develop skills in critical appraisal to help them identify the right evidence, at the right time. This course can help you understand what RCT’s are, and the key factors to look out for to assess the risk of bias and decide if the results are trustworthy.

Oftentimes users are signposted to CASP to use our free checklists in order to appraise a piece of evidence, but perhaps you are new to reading research and need some help to know how to use these checklists. This module will guide you through the questions in the CASP Randomised Controlled Trials checklist and show you the key pointers to look for when reading a paper, and what the questions mean in each section. 

Using the CASP Statistics Workbook and published data from a randomised controlled trial, learners will have the opportunity to practise how to calculate odds ratio, risk ratio, relative risk reduction, absolute risk reduction, and number needed to treat. This micro module looks into the key performance metrics for evaluating the outcomes of randomised controlled trials, such as absolute and relative risk, odds, and number needed to treat or harm. It also emphasises the significance of confidence intervals (CIs) and P values in assessing the findings of published research to assess if the benefits of the results outweigh the potential risks to a given population.

Course details at a glance

• Training method: Online training. Learners can progress at their own page.
• Duration: This course is approximately 3 hours 5 minutes.
• Access to module: Access is 12 months from the date of purchase
• Certification: On completion of the course, you will automatically receive a certificate of completion which you can keep in your CPD record.
• Cost: £45.00 (£37.50+VAT).

Training Course Syllabus:

• The “Introduction to the Critical Appraisal of Randomised Controlled Trials” micromodule covers:
  • Elements of scientific research that apply to randomised controlled trials
  • What is an RCT and what are its uses?
  • Summary of key points from an RCT
  • What is Bias?
  • Quality markers in the Critical Appraisal of an RCT
  • Summary of key quality markers in an RCT
• The “How to Use A CASP Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT) Checklist” micromodule covers:
  • Helping you become familiar with the CASP randomised controlled trial (RCT) checklist.
  • Supporting you in appraising a randomised controlled trial paper using the CASP checklist. We explain why each question is important to the critical appraisal of a randomised controlled trial and the main issues you need to consider when answering each question.
  • Helping you identify whether the results of a randomised controlled trial are generalisable. We look at the challenges involved in assessing whether the results of a randomised controlled trial are generalizable and robust enough to be used in routine practice with your local population. We illustrate how to use the CASP RCT checklist, we answer each question using information from the critical appraisal of a paper in the published literature.
  • Increasing your confidence about using critical appraisal to decide whether the results of a randomised controlled trial paper are robust enough to be used in routine practice.
• The “Making Sense of Results: Measures of Effectiveness in Randomised Controlled Trials” course covers:
  • Interpreting results
  • Results expressed as a difference
  • Results expressed as a ratio
  • Relative vs. absolute measures
  • Importance of confidence intervals and P-values
  • Calculating measures of effectiveness

Who should attend this training course?

Health professions use research evidence in their professional practice, in professional and personal decision making, and policy & guidelines development.

• Anyone who must make decisions about someone’s care in their job or personal life.
• Health & Healthcare workers
• Dentists
• Allied Care Professionals
• Students
• Veterinary
• Policy makers
• Journalists
• Third sector workers

Testimonials

“I liked that the content was clear, concise, and useful. It gave both theoretical and practical knowledge, and gave the necessary tools to use when critically appraising RCT.”

Occupational Therapist

“Useful, concise and informative.”

Doctor

“The duration of the videos was short and split into various sections. This helped with following through easily and maintaining concentration.”

Student

“Easy to follow, liked the narration and could rewind if needed.”

ST8 Paediatric Emergency Medicine Trainee

About your trainer

• Erica Ison is the lead for the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme at OAP Ltd. She is an experienced trainer/facilitator in a range of fields and has worked with a variety of people from health and care professionals and third sector personnel to politicians, students, and members of the public.
• Erica carries out CASP Face to Face, Virtual and commissioned workshops.
• Eica designs and develops not only training and skills development courses, tailored for local, national, and international audiences, but also tools, checklists, and frameworks to support healthcare professionals in decision-making.
• Erica has experience in using the identification of unwarranted variation to increase value in the delivery of health services. Edited the NHS Atlases of Variation in Healthcare series since the first compendium Atlas appeared under the Quality Innovation Improvement & Prevention (QIPP) Right Care programme in 2010. Since then, she has overseen the writing, editing and production of three compendium atlases and six specialist Atlases including two editions of the Diagnostics Atlas and two of the Liver Disease Atlas.

Why learn with CASP?

• CASP training and resources help participants put knowledge into practice by learning how to systematically formulate questions, find research evidence, appraise research evidence and act on what they find.
• The philosophy of CASP has always been about sharing knowledge and understanding, working in ways that are non-hierarchical, multidisciplinary and using problem-based approaches. This ensures that it is accessible and has practical day-to-day application.
• The CASP programme has been running since 1993 and has 30 years of significant and unrivalled expertise in the delivery of training to healthcare professionals, from a wide variety of professions and disciplines. We are continuing to evolve into new ways of making our workshops accessible to those across the world, including transferring our workshop content to online learning so that participants can pace their study at their own time, having access from wherever they are.
• CASP has 8 critical appraisal tools, designed to be used when reading research. These include tools for systematic reviews, randomised controlled trials, cohort studies, case control studies, economic evaluations, diagnostic studies, qualitative studies and clinical prediction Rule.
• These are free to download from the CASP website and can be used by anyone under the Creative Commons License.
• These are used by healthcare organisations and universities world-wide, with over 400,000 downloads per year.

Ready to get started?

Gaining access to the “Randomised Controlled Trials (RCTs) Module” is quick and easy. Simply choose the option below:

Purchase our RCT Module