LEARNING OUTCOMES

The student should be able to critically evaluate published studies related to clinical rehabilitation, management of organizational processes and human resources, demonstrating that they possess the ability to apply to professional choices. The student should be able to conceive, design, adapt and implement clinical research projects.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The main objectives are to improve the ability to understand the EBP processes and the theoretical bases of research in the health care and to facilitate the research.
At the end of the course and after an appropriate study and exercise period the student will be able to:
1. Know and apply the Evidence Based Clinical Practice
2. Define Quality Criteria for Clinical Research and identify the most appropriate research designs for the different types of questions
3. Know the objectives and main bias of observational and experimental studies
4. Learn the process from the research question to the planning of the studio: formulate an EPICOT
5. Classify biomedical sources of information
6. Know how to find bibliographic sources, in particular consult online databases of interest for rehabilitation
7. Formulate a research on PubMed and PEDro

TEACHING METHODS

Lectures (16 hours).

Lectures are performed in all the teaching location by owners teachers and are explained with slides. The Students/Teachers percentage report allows a direct comparison and an use of collaborative methodology, discussion about rehabilitation and working groups.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Classification of Health Research. How to make a decision. Books, magazines, publications, sponsored publications and the web: limitations and dangers. Definition and meaning of EBP. Structure of a research article: abstract, introduction, material and methods, results, discussion and conclusions, bibliography. Clinical research questions: etiology, diagnosis, prognosis and therapy.
Classification of biomedical information: primary, secondary and traditional sources. Levels of evidence. Primary Research: Observational and Experimental Studies. Descriptive observational studies: case reports, case series. Analytical observational studies: cohort studies, case-control studies, transverse studies. Experimental studies: Uncontrolled Trial and Trial Controlled: Non-randomized, randomized.
Secondary research: systematic reviews, guidelines, economic analysis and decision making.
Clinical research: validity, clinical relevance, applicability, ethics, randomization; Bias, inadequate methodological quality, conflicts of interest.

FORMULATION OF RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Qualitative and quantitative research in comparison
Define the objective of the study: etiology, prognosis, diagnosis, prevention, therapy. Formulation of the research question.
From the question to the design of the studio: the EPICOT model.
BIOMEDICAL INFORMATION MANAGEMENT
Research of scientific literature on the network. Biomedical databases. Databases: MEDLINE, secondary publications, synopses, clinical evidence, cochrane library.
Bibliographic search on PubMed: research strategies, search for author / title / magazine, MeSH terms, and Boolean operators. EMBASE's Notes, CINAHL. Main systematic review databases: Cochrane library.
Sources of Rehabilitative Interest: PEDro. Use of PEDro scale for the validity of clinical trials. Exercises.
Guidelines. Consensus Conference. AGREE as a Critical Evaluation Tool for Guidelines.
Secondary publications               

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

The slides used during lectures and other educational materials (such as in-depth tutorial, E-book) will be provided by teachers; they may also indicate books, articles and scientific journals.

The notes taken during the lectures and material provided by teachers are sufficient for the exam.

It is suggested as text / support articles:

Herbert R, Jamtved G, Mead J, Birger Hagen K "Practical evidence based Physiotherapy" Elsevier 2005

Chiari P, Mosci D, Naldi E “Evidence-Based Clinical Practice La pratica clinico-assistenziale basata su prove di efficacia” McGraw-Hill  2011