An NHS trainer in Teesside has developed a new course for health professionals in an area he has specialised in for two decades – officially launched nationally to all NHS staff this month.
John Blenkinsopp, trainer at North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust, has created an e-learning programme on critical appraisal – commissioned by NHS England for all health staff.
All of the modules for Critically Appraising the Evidence Base, written or co-written by John, look at the process of evaluating and assessing evidence to check its quality, relevance and validity.
John has already been teaching this locally for many years and provides training nationally for more than 40 NHS health trusts and other organisations like the British Medical Association, Royal Society of Pharmaceuticals and Health Education England.
John, a clinical effectiveness advisor at the Trust, said: “I am pleased that a course I have led for many years is now being rolled out as an official part of e-learning training for all NHS staff across the country.
“For 25 years, I have been running critical appraisal training for health staff across the country.
“Essential to evidence-based practice, critical appraisal helps enrich research and learning and can be applied when introducing new procedures, reviewing new evidence of a topic or treatments or even in developing new innovations or business cases.
“It is one of many training courses I am really proud to deliver to health professionals.”
The new sessions are:
- Key issues in Critical Appraisal
- equity considerations in critical appraisal
- critically appraising Randomised controlled trials
- interpreting results for critical appraisal
- critical appraisal of systematic reviews
- critical appraisal of qualitative studies
- critical appraisal of diagnostic and screening tests
- critical appraisal tools
By the end of the programme, learners will understand why critical appraisal is important for study, research and professional development.
Learners are also encouraged to provide feedback on the programme via the evaluation survey.
For more information and to access the programme, please visit the Critically Appraising the Evidence Base programme page or contact John at [email protected] .