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Critical appraisal skills are an essential part of the practice of evidence-based healthcare. Any literature read, should be read critically. That means forming your own views and opinions upon it, however many people lack confidence in this area. This course complements 'Critical Reading Made Easy: Practical Appraisal', however they do not need to be done together.

In this two hour session we look at the principles of critical appraisal. We will use some light hearted examples as we see that anyone can do critical appraisal and that statistics are not as scary as most people think. We encourage question asking and discussion during the session.

We discuss questions like what is it critcal appraisal and why bother with it? We also look at different kinds of papers and have a go at designing our own study. We also look at some of the statistical terms that will be found in quantitaive reseach. We will give tips on how to appraise different kinds of papers and use some coloured beads to illustrate what confidence intervals are.

Teaching materials
A handout will be given to you during the session. There will also be another sheet given for one of the exercises. You do not need to bring anything with you.

Impact
This course, along the the 'Pratical Appraisal' session, have been shown by past attendees to nearly double their confidence levels when it comes to critical appraisal skills. See more detail on the impact it makes by looking at #uhllibCRME on Twitter.

Alternative format
We recognise that not everyone can spare two hours for a training course so we do offer a one hour version of this session. This shorter session is designed as a taster course, not as a replacement for the longer one. The abridged version can be done in the workplace, so if you have a team meeting or a group of colleagues and want to invite us to come and lead this course for you, just get in touch.