Location  

Stockholm, Sweden

Objectives /    Learning Outcomes  

Upon completion of this course, the participants will be able to: 

• Define evidence-based practice in the context of public health 
• Understand the meaning and implications of evidence-based in decision-making 
  
• Describe the characteristics and key elements of a systematic review 
• Understand the differences between systematic reviews and meta-analyses
• Apply all relevant steps of a systematic review and meta-analysis by themselves
• Develop their skills on critical appraisal and risk of bias assessment 
• Formulate evidence-based recommendations and guidelines 
• Utilise the set of checklists and tools provided to facilitate evidence-based practice 

Target audience  

This is course is available for ECDC staff and Public Health professionals in the EU/EEA. The course can be taken by colleagues of all grades and expert level. The course is especially recommended for those involved in critical review, development and/or commissioning risk assessments and guidance documents based on systematic reviews.

Being an introductory course, the participants do not need to have any prior knowledge in evidence-based methods. However, participants with basic knowledge in epidemiology (e.g. different study designs) tend to benefit more from the training. 

Description  

The training workshop will have a mix of lectures and exercises to stimulate interaction and active involvement. Over the four days, the participants will work in small groups on all steps of a systematic review, from the development of a structured question to searching and selecting published and grey evidence. The critical appraisal and risk of bias assessment of single studies of different study type, extraction and summary, including meta-analysis. The grading of a body of evidence, and finally present the results of their work on the last course day. The participants will receive plenty of tips on techniques and tools, and hands-on training which will facilitate the use of evidence-based methods in their daily work.

Note: This course is not open for public enrolment. Participation is through invitation by the focal point of the respective disease programme or function areas which is guided by the framework of collaboration between ECDC and the Coordinating Competent Bodies of Member States.