Critical Appraisal of Systematic Reviews

Workshop Overview

Book now to join a CASP session, looking at what systematic reviews are and how to read and understand them. Taking place over 3 ½ hours, the session will be lead by CASP Trainer, Erica Ison. There will be an introductory presentation, small group work appraising a published paper, followed by group discussion and feedback. The aim of the workshop is to give you the confidence to read and interpret research evidence, such that you are equipped to use evidence in decision-making. The main focus of the workshop is the use and critical appraisal of systematic reviews to support you in decision-making.

Learning Objectives

• To understand why evidence-based health and care is important, and the role of critical appraisal within that
• To understand the main elements of systematic reviews and the important quality markers to look out for
• To cover some of the important statistical analyses presented within systematic reviews and what they mean
• To critically appraise a systematic review using the CASP systematic reviews checklist
• To consider whether/how the results of the review can be used in practice

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Training Course Location

Participant places are limited in each virtual workshop to ensure optimal interaction between participants and lead trainer. CPD certification (equivalent to 3.5 hours) is available if required. This workshop will take place online, and joining instructions will be sent to you after completion of booking. Participants will be sent pre-reading of a published paper to complete before the start of the session.

Why Critical Appraisal? 

Everyone wants good health and effective healthcare. How do we know, however, whether an intervention is truly effective? Many interventions are given with the best of intention but have later been found to be ineffective and therefore a waste of finite healthcare resources.

Moreover, instances of harm from giving certain ‘treatments’ are being reported. It is important that interventions are evaluated in clinical trials before they are widely disseminated. If health-policy decisions are to be truly informed, they need to be based on the best available research evidence; however, how can we decide whether the evidence is trustworthy?

This is where critical appraisal can help. Critical appraisal skills enable you to assess systematically the trustworthiness, relevance and results of published papers. During the workshop, you will learn how to use critical appraisal skills to decide whether the research contained in a published systematic is valid, trustworthy and relevant.

This course will be taught in English and will take place in GMT.

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