EBM Foundation Course

EBM Foundation Course - Curriculum Development

All Residents and Fellows are Invited to Attend this course

• EBM Foundation Course Requirements
• Minimal Criteria for approving Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM) courses for the Resident by the Saudi Council of Health Specialities

NGCEBHP

NGCEBHP is officially recognized by the GCC ministers of Health as an EBM referral center for Saudi Arabia and the Gulf region. A decree issued with this recognition during the 57th conference held in Geneva on 19th of May 2004 (Decree 6 item 3).

NGCEBM is an officially affiliated center to Evidence Based Clinical Practice Group in McMaster University- Canada. This Group is lead by Prof. Gordon Guyatt, the leader and one of the founders of EBM all over the world.

NGCEBM works in contact, coordination and collaboration with the National EBM committee, GCC Ministers of Health Executive Office, Arabian Gulf University EBM Center (Bahrain) and Sultan Qaboos University EBM Center (Oman).

Communications already started with the referral Cochrane Center for Arab region (UKCC), the Center of Health Evidence (Alberta) and the Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office (EMRO) of WHO to enhance future activities.

EBM & Residency Training Programs

Physicians have the commitment to quality care and to practice on the basis of their knowledge of the most effective management strategy for a particular condition. In the last few decades, the amount of information concerning available treatment and management options for many conditions has increased exponentially. Selection of best available evidence appropriate for individual patients’ care is the cornerstone of the Evidence Based Medicine (EBM) practice.

The importance of including EBHP in the residency curriculum is well recognized by many programs in developed countries namely USA, Canada, UK and Australia. Recently, the Saudi Council for Health Specialties (SCHS) has incorporated EBM in the residency curricula, as the EBM course is mandatory for all residents before their graduations. A well recognized program is needed to fulfill the requirement of such an important foundation course. The SCHS approached the NGCEBHP for conducting EBM courses directed to residents in various specialties with reduced fees (letter No. 1763/3 dated 6/4/1426 H, attachment I). Being a referral center in KSA and the Gulf region, the NGCEBHP in National Guard Health Affairs will assume such responsibility.

Aim

The ultimate purpose of teaching the residents the principles and practice of EBM is to foster life-long self-teaching, self-evaluation and to promote improvement of the care they provide to their patients.

Learning objectives 

Financial

The course fee is SR1,000 which is a round 70% of the regular fee for such course. Attendees will pay the fee to contribute to the cost of the course, which is a non-profit one. The course fees include Catering (Refreshment, Breakfast and Lunch) and the educational materials.

Faculty

EBM qualified teachers and instructors from all over the Kingdom will be involved with excellent experience in teaching EBM and search strategies (see attachment III).

Frequency of the courses

Excluding the Eid’s holiday, resident examination and summer vacations months, a minimum of five courses per year will be conducted, providing a minimum of 20 participants will be pre registered.

Venue and Space

NGCEBHP Center, 1st Floor, College of Medicine Building B, King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences.  With facilities, including Computer laboratory will be the place to run the course, large auditorium and classrooms.

Computer Laboratory

There are 2 Computer Laboratories, connected to fast speed Internet .For teaching purposes a projection unit and Smart board is made available to enable facilitators to use his own computer or presentations and teaching sessions for search. At one time, no more than 2 candidates will be utilizing one (1) computer at the session of computer search.  The following databases will be available: Midline, Cochrane Databases for Systematic Review, DARE, Clinical Evidence, Evidence Based Medicine, ACP Journal Club, TRIP Database, GACGUIDELINES and SUM Search.

Educational Material

A special scientific committee is responsible for the selection of high standard teaching materials as well as updating them on regular basis.  The committee is working with the official affiliation and cooperation with McMaster University - Evidence Based Practice working group lead by Prof. Gordon Guyatt. The educational materials will be ready for collection by the participants at least one week before the course.

Additional Notes

• Study methodology & design was added in the first day with concentration on design of RCT
• The 2 practical sessions on application of evidence will utilize pre-appraised papers (either the papers that were appraised during the course or from pre-appraise resources) and rigorously checking its applicability criteria on different patients’ Scenarios.

Evaluation

1. Pre-test

2. Continuous assessment

Aim: to test the active participation of candidates

Main areas of assessment: knowledge, positive participation, attitude, and preparation

This can be achieved by supervision of candidates’ performance throughout the course.

3. Post- test "Final assessment"

4. Evaluation of the course by participants

Standard forms will be distributed to all participants to evaluate the course, the instructors, the educational materials, the course organization, etc.

The candidate will be given the option to write 500-1000 words to describe his/her experience in the application of the 5 steps of EBM.

Certificate

All the attendees who pass the evaluation with marks above 75% will be given a certificate of successful completion of the EBM foundation course.

CME

The course will apply for accreditation from the SCHS for CME hours.

Conclusion

The development of EBM Fundamental course is essential step and cornerstone for the implementation and dissemination of Evidence Based Practice in the health care field in the KSA.

Introduction To Task Teams (TT)

Introduction To Task Teams (TT)

The National & Gulf Center for Evidence Based Medicine (NGCEBM)has been recognized as the referral EBM center for Saudi Arabia & Gulf region since May 2004. Since then there was enormous increase in activities and tasks that the center conducted not only allover the KSA but also across the region. Several tasks with different perspective were requested from the center. The NGCEBM executive board felt that it is highly required to have more EBM proponents to be able to accomplish this important mission. Last month, we completed the identification of the tasks required and we are now formulating multiple task teams (TT). Each TT will carry out the responsibility of the development and implementation of one specific EBM-related task with a national and regional scope.

Task Team Voluntary Membership Form
Click here to download the application form

Minimal Criteria for Approving Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM) Courses for the Resident by the Saudi Council of Health Specialties

This document is prepared for the Saudi Council for Health Specialties (SCHS) to decide the standards that should be fulfilled by any center that aims to conduct a training course on Evidence Based Medicine (EBM). This is essential before being approved by the SCHS.

Human and other resources

Learning Outcomes

At the end of the course, the candidates should have been familiar to the following competencies, which are based on the five steps of EBM.
Translation of uncertainty in to an answerable question. The student identifies knowledge gaps during the course of practice and asks foreground questions to fill these gaps. The student should ask focused questions that lead to effective search and appraisal strategies.
Search for and retrieval of evidence. The student can design and conduct a search strategy to answer questions. The student understands the strengths and weaknesses of the different sources of evidence.
Critical appraisal of evidence for validity and clinical importance. The student can appraise the validity of a study. The appraisal will include: the suitability of the type of study to the type of question asked, the reliability of outcome measures chosen, and the suitability and robustness of the analysis employed. The student can appraise the importance of the outcomes and translate them into clinically meaningful summary statistics, such as number needed to treat (NNT). The course should cover the therapy, diagnosis, and systematic review (Meta analysis) studies.
Application of appraised evidence to practice. The student can assess the relevance of the appraised evidence to the need that prompted the question. The student can explore the patient's values and the acceptability of the answer.
Evaluation of performance. After the student had asked the focused question(s), searched sources of evidence, appraised or used pre-appraised evidence and applied these in practice, (S)he would reflect on how well these activities were performed.

Process of teaching

Methods of Teaching

It is advisable to follow the following guidelines for the process of teaching. They are arranged in the sequence of the EBM steps:
Translation of uncertainty in to an answerable question.
Presenting clinical scenarios or asking candidates to share a problem encountered in their clinical practice. Framing a focused, answerable question in a structured format(2). Several formats are taught: 3 part (patient-intervention/exposure-comparator-outcome), or 5 part (patient-intervention/exposure- comparator-outcome-time) questions.
Search for and retrieval of evidence.
Theoretical instruction backed by a supervised practical session (hands-on medical websites search)) with online connection(3). A librarian with search skills could be utilized for this purpose if possible. A variety of databases should be shown as possible with the strengths and weaknesses discussed. Examples include Cochrane Library, PubMed, CLINICAL EVIDENCE, Evidence Based Medicine, Upto date, ACP Journal Club, trip database, SUM Search and GACGUIDELINES but Minimal two are required: one primary unfiltered website (e.g. PubMed) and one secondary filtered one (e.g. cochrane library)
Critical appraisal of evidence for validity and clinical importance.
This is probably the most widely taught skill [5] Examples include the Critical Appraisals Skills Program(4).
Application of appraised evidence to practice.
Examples include applying the identified evidence to the specific context that led to the quest for evidence. This requires exploration of the generalisability of the evidence to the specific scenario, and 'particularizing outcomes by adjusting for patient-specific risks (5).
Evaluation of performance
Role modeling by the attending senior physicians and /or EBP teachers. The encouragement of adult learning styles and Journal clubs(6).

Assessment (Optional)

• While the majority of the group agreed on the benefit of evaluating the workshops by the participants. However it was agreed that, for the time being, the formative assessment is optional. The benefits of formative assessments are a lot including feedback to the teachers and course organizers and feedback to the participants on their strong and weak points.
• Computer based OSCE has been used elsewhere to test the abilities of framing questions, searching, and retrieving appropriate evidence(8).

The assessment for each EBM step is as follow:

Application Form

You can download the application form for For Conducting EBM WORKSHOP for residents & fellows according to SCHS requirements (ref 1763/3 dated 6/4/1426H) by clicking on the following link:
Application form Mandatory Requirement for EBM Workshops directed to Residents and Fellows:

Registration form

HERE

Evidence Based Nursing Task Team

Evidence Based Nursing Task Team

AFFILIATIONS

www.joannabriggs.edu.au

On 28 January 2007, NGCEBM held a Regional Presentation about the Center’s activities with regards to the International Collaboration with the Joanna Briggs Institute.
(To read the Latest JBI report click here)