Course description

Participants will learn about the importance of research and evidence-based medicine (EBM), the relevant ethical considerations and guidelines for Good Clinical Practice (GCP) with a focus on the formulation of a clinical research question. In addition to practicing some of the skills related to critical literature review, this course offers support in working with a statistician, and navigating the AO Program for Education and Excellence in Research (AO PEER) to help make their research project a success. For more information, please visit www.aopeer.org. Access is free for all members of an AO Clinical Division.

Goal of the course

The goal of this course is to introduce the principles of clinical research, including skills and knowledge on why and

how to do research, how to build a good research environment, and where to find additional resources, tools,

and reference packages to support a research project.

Target participants

The AO PEER course—Principles of Clinical Research is targeted at individuals who want to learn or

improve the skills for conducting clinical research and publishing results and also at those with a general interest

in research and documentation of clinical cases.

Learning objectives

At the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Explain the importance of doing research and the link to evidence-based medicine
• Apply the basic principles of literature search and critical appraisal
• Follow GCP guidelines and adhere to ethical requirements, eg, informed consent
• Identify a clinical problem, formulate a clinical research question, and select the study design
• Collaborate with a statistician to perform sample size calculation and basic statistical analyses
• Describe the principles of medical writing

Utilize available research environment, resources, and tools