Safeguarding Attend a level 3 safeguarding course Get involved in strategy meetings, CAF meetings, report writing Perform safeguarding CBD The remaining areas are difficult to specifically prepare for in terms of management of acute and chronic conditions, teaching methods and techniques and more generalised communication skills. The best planning for these is to do your job and seize every opportunity to experience the most you can. Meeting with friends or senior colleagues who have done START can be really useful to talk through possible scenarios and I have summarised my START assessment from October 2015 for some examples (after critical appraisal section). Critical appraisal in 10 points 1. PURPOSE Was the well justified? Has the research tackled an important problem? Was the purpose/ hypothesis clearly stated? 2. METHODS & SAMPLE What methods have the authors used? Was the overall study design appropriate for achieving the objectives? Sample How was the sample selected? look at CONSORT diagram – Were there lots of exclusions? Was there selection bias? inclusion & exclusion criteria – Was the sample tightly defined (homogeneous)? More likely to show effect, – less universally useful Was it loosely defined (heterogeneous)? Less likely to show effect, more – universally useful Are the basic characteristics of the sample described? Was the sample size justified? Large enough to give an accurate picture – A formal size/ power calculation should be performed & details should be in the methods section 3. RANDOMISATION Randomisation has the advantage of balancing unknown confounders How were the patients randomised? Did randomisation work? Look at baseline characteristics table are the groups similar? – If unequal, did authors account for confounders? (i.e. including variables in analysis, such as regression models)
Safeguarding Attend a level 3 safeguarding course Get involved in strategy meetings, CAF meetings, report writing Perform safeguarding CBD The remaining areas are difficult to specifically prepare for in terms of management of acute and chronic conditions, teaching methods and techniques and more generalised communication skills. The best planning for these is to do your job and seize every opportunity to experience the most you can. Meeting with friends or senior colleagues who have done START can be really useful to talk through possible scenarios and I have summarised my START assessment from October 2015 for some examples (after critical appraisal section). Critical appraisal in 10 points 1. PURPOSE Was the well justified? Has the research tackled an important problem? Was the purpose/ hypothesis clearly stated? 2. METHODS & SAMPLE What methods have the authors used? Was the overall study design appropriate for achieving the objectives? Sample How was the sample selected? – look at CONSORT diagram Were there lots of exclusions? Was there selection bias? – inclusion & exclusion criteria Was the sample tightly defined (homogeneous)? – More likely to show effect, less universally useful Was it loosely defined (heterogeneous)? – Less likely to show effect, more universally useful Are the basic characteristics of the sample described? Was the sample size justified? – Large enough to give an accurate picture A formal size/ power calculation should be performed & details should be in the methods section 3. RANDOMISATION Randomisation has the advantage of balancing unknown confounders How were the patients randomised? Did randomisation work? Look at baseline characteristics table – are the groups similar? If unequal, did authors account for confounders? (i.e. including variables in analysis, such as regression models)
START_Guide.docx