This new course is available to third-year Medical, Veterinary and Natural Sciences (MVST) students as a ‘minor’ module.  First launched in 2017, it has been updated and renamed this year for those starting the course in October 2020 . It offers students the opportunity to gain the knowledge, skills and practical experience to understand the importance and challenges of applied clinical research.

What behavioural changes will improve health?

How can we improve patient safety in healthcare services?

How can data from clinical records be used for research?

What tools and expertise do GPs need to diagnose cancer earlier?

Can stroke patients’ recovery be improved?

How can we encourage patients to take their medicine?

 

This module offers a platform for developing further expertise in academic medicine during clinical studies and beyond. Students will also have the opportunity to develop themes that they have begun to explore in this BBS module through Student Selected Components in Year 4 of the Cambridge clinical course.  The maximum number of students per year is nine.  Selection Criteria can be found on the BBS webpage.

About the course

The course has two core components and one elective component.

Core Component 1: Lecture / Seminar Programme

Michaelmas term

Weekly Lectures (1 hour):

Develop knowledge and understanding of applied clinical research. Topics are:

• The Nature/Importance of Applied Clinical Research
• Ethics and Research Governance and Patient Participation in Research
• Critical Appraisal 1
• Social Science Approaches
• Applied Clinical Research Methods – complex interventions and an introduction to the MRC Framework
• Experiments/Trials 1
• Observational Studies – Surveys and Mixed Methods
• Evidence Synthesis
• Experiments/Trials 2
• Observational Studies (CPRD), Case Control Studies and Cohort Studies
• Critical Appraisal 2

Weekly Group Seminars (2 hours)

Develop your new knowledge in the context of practical research issues and develop skills required for critical appraisal.

Both lectures and seminars will be delivered in the Primary Care Unit, to the cohort of students as a single group on the Addenbrookes’s Site. Students will be guided to read relevant material and to self-direct their learning within this guidance framework.

Some course pre-reading for interested students will be provided.

Core Component 2: Current research issues & methods: the applied component

Lent term

Students will be attached to one of seven of the ten Primary Care Unit Research Groups listed below.  There will be an element of choice, depending upon different research groups’ capacity.

• Applied Social Science Group
• Behavioural Science Group
• Cardiovascular Group
• Clinical Nursing Research Group
• Palliative & End of Life Care Group
• Prevention Group
• The Healthcare Improvement Studies (THIS) Institute 

The attachment is intended to deepen  the student’s study and critical appraisal of current research questions and methods in a specific field of applied clinical research; and view the application of methods in relevant studies, and the challenges and rewards of conducting studies in primary care.

Attend weekly one to one supervisions with a supervising member of the research group, attend project team meetings, observe data collection and analysis.

Elective Component: Dissertation

Students can undertake their Part 2 Dissertation in this module: they may prepare a 6,000 word Research Protocol derived from this period of study.

All students (whether they elect to undertake their dissertation in this Module or not) will have the opportunity to return to their chosen Research Group to continue their studies during Student Selected components of their Clinical Course.

Find out more about research in the Primary Care Unit

Go to the front page of this site and sign up to our monthly research update.

Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PCU_Cambridge

 

More information about the BBS options

See more about the BBS courses and how they are organised here.

 

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