HS759-7-FY-CO:
Using Evidence in Health Care Practice
2024/25
Health and Social Care (School of)
Colchester Campus
Full Year
Postgraduate: Level 7
Future
Thursday 03 October 2024
Friday 27 June 2025
15
23 May 2024
Requisites for this module
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
MSC A40036 Periodontology,
MSC A400CO Periodontology,
MSC A40136 Advanced Periodontal Practice,
MSC A401CO Advanced Periodontal Practice,
MSC A4A2AL Periodontology Science and Practice
Digital literacy is an important life skill in the 21st century and skills and confidence in using on line learning to develop professional practice are essential in today's health and allied professional practice, where professionals are expected to be up to date with their knowledge and expertise to inform best practice. The ability to advocate and implement an evidence-based response to complex issues or emerging topics as they arise in professional working practice is fundamental to leading a skilled and compassionate health care service and providing excellent patient care. This requires health care staff to demonstrate independent learning strategies and fluency with the e-learning environment. This module provides you with the opportunity to develop on line learning skills through a series of authentic research tasks with the support of peers, practitioners and tutors.
Important themes in the module include:
Evidence based practice
Basic principles of research and research methods.
Critical appraisal and reviewing research literature
Credibility, responsibility and ethics
This module will help you to develop rigorous critical appraisal skills to support evidence-based practice in health care. Critical appraisal is process of carefully and systematically examining research to judge its trustworthiness and its value and relevance in a particular context (Burls 2009). The module will encourage a rich understanding of the value of different types of evidence in order to apply evidence in practice settings. Integral to this are the skills necessary to produce a literature review that appraises, synthesises and interprets the implications of a body of evidence. The aim of this module is to support you to a level where you can apply evidence to professional practice and are prepared for the research module. Additionally, we aim to enable you to explore the wide range of on-line learning methods and resources to so that you can embed evidence based practice into your professional development.
On successful completion of this module, you will be able to:
1. Explain, critically appraise and evaluate principles of evidenced based health care practice for your professional discipline, and evaluate the impact of using evidence to support practice.
2. Utilise appropriate research tools, strategies and frameworks to define and refine practice-based questions, to systematically search for and retrieve relevant peer reviewed articles and grey literature.
3. Critique, adapt and apply a range of research methods, governance strategies and ethical practices to the appraisal of quality and content of research output, papers and reports within your own professional discipline.
4. Synthesise a body of evidence: integrating an assessment of quality with an appraisal of findings; drawing detailed, nuanced, well considered conclusions; and applying research findings to specific contextual issues for evidence-based practice within your own professional discipline.
5. Present work in a professional manner, competently expressed and edited and using language appropriate to the professional discipline and required ethical standards. Use appropriate citation and referencing protocols ensuring that evidence presented is proportionate to claims made.
Background / Context
There is an appreciation you each bring to this module a diverse range of knowledge and experience of both evidence-based practice and use of on-line media. The purpose of this module is to support development of a critical response to evidence to support your growth as a professional healthcare practitioner. Evidence-based practice is a key element of every module you study and every day you spend on placement and every patient contact. This module therefore supports all other activities on your programme, and is not a separate and discrete topic.
This module takes a blended learning approach that draws on multiple methods to deliver learning by combining face-to-face teaching with e-learning/online activities. This has become popular and is evidenced to be an effective approach in Higher Education. Module offers a range of learning resources to meet the needs of different students who are drawn from a range of research-related health and social care programmes. Whilst a significant level of independent study is expected (15 credits equates to around 150 hours of study), there is no imperative to read everything! What is important is to find a way to meaningfully engage with module topics and make appropriate use of support from peers and tutor.
The module is provided through an on-line learning platform utilising a variety of on-line teaching and learning methods to suit a range of student knowledge and competencies in both research and on line learning. The initial activities will be highly structured thus supporting confidence and competence in using on line media, with increasing opportunities for you to manage, contribute and structure your engagement with the materials as the module progresses.
Lectures: Additional lectures and seminars will be made available by your programme to update your knowledge in research methods. The module will also be supported through access to a named tutor who will monitor your progress through the on-line programme and provide support as necessary. Importantly as you work independently through the learning materials and activities you should take the opportunity to raise questions about evidence-based practice with all programme staff and seek help and support from the module tutor if you are struggling.
During COVID-19 measures lectures will be delivered synchronously online through Zoom until it is safe for face to face teaching in person to resume.
Independent: The module requires students to effectively manage their time and learning through structured e-learning on Moodle. Whilst you will be able to pace your own learning to fit in with other course and placement demands, you are expected to complete study, reading and activities in a timely manner in order to be able to successfully progress through the module. Participation in peer review and support will be essential components of the e-learning experience and a requirement for all students.
Online: Study on this module you will be drawing on printed material, a variety of web resources including video clips, and data analysis software. However, one of the most important learning activities that you engage in will be the on-line discussions that you have with fellow students. For a number of topics, you will be asked to discuss your thoughts on specific issues with the other students in allocated groups. All learning activities will be provided through the Moodle on line learning platform with additional methods (e.g. Twitter, Facebook, GoogleDocs, Online reading lists, Endnote) linked through Moodle.
NOTE: It is recommended that you use up to date versions of software to prevent problems with conversion to .pdf or submission to FASER. A free version of Office 365, which includes Word 2016 is available through our IT Services blog, departmental handbooks and emails, and via established FaceBook pages and http://www.essex.ac.uk/it/computers/software/office/default.aspx
Skills: The ability to search for, find and critically appraise research articles and apply findings to practice using a broad range of web resources. Skills in using on line resources and methods will be supported through the online learning on Moodle.
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Aveyard, H. (2023)
Doing a literature review in health and social care: a practical guide. Fifth edition. London: Open University Press. Available at:
https://app.kortext.com/Shibboleth.sso/Login?entityID=https://idp0.essex.ac.uk/shibboleth&target=https://app.kortext.com/borrow/2344343.
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Garrard, J. (2022)
Health sciences literature review made easy: the matrix method. 6th ed. Burlington, Los Angeles: Jones & Bartlett Learning, LLC. Available at:
https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=2693815.
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Trisha, G., Sally, T. and Kirsti, M. (no date) ‘Time to challenge the spurious hierarchy of systematic over narrative reviews?’,
European Journal of Clinical Investigation, 48(6). Available at:
https://doi-org.uniessexlib.idm.oclc.org/10.1111/eci.12931.
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Aveyard, H. and Sharp, P. (2017)
A beginner’s guide to evidence-based practice in health and social care. Third edition. London: Open University Press, McGraw-Hill Education. Available at:
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/universityofessex-ebooks/detail.action?docID=6212202.
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David L. Sackett et al. (1996) ‘Evidence Based Medicine: What It Is And What It Isn’t: It’s About Integrating Individual Clinical Expertise And The Best External Evidence’,
BMJ: British Medical Journal, 312(7023), pp. 71–72. Available at:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/29730277.
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Greenhalgh, T., Howick, J. and Maskrey, N. (2014) ‘Evidence based medicine: a movement in crisis?’,
BMJ, 348(jun13 4), pp. g3725–g3725. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.g3725.
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PRISMA (no date). PRISMA. Available at:
http://www.prisma-statement.org/.
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Booth, A. (2006) ‘"Brimful of STARLITE”: toward standards for reporting literature searches’,
Journal of the Medical Library Association, 94(4). Available at:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1629442/.
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Sandberg, J. and Alvesson, M. (2011) ‘Ways of constructing research questions: gap-spotting or problematization?’,
Organization, 18(1), pp. 23–44. Available at:
https://org.sagepub.com/content/18/1/23.abstract.
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Booth, Andrew (2006) ‘Clear and present questions: formulating questions for evidence based practice’, Library Hi Tech, 24(3), pp. 355–368.
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Wildridge, V. and Bell, L. (2002) ‘How CLIP became ECLIPSE: a mnemonic to assist in searching for health policy/management information’,
Health Information and Libraries Journal, 19(2), pp. 113–115. Available at:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1471-1842.2002.00378.x/abstract.
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The above list is indicative of the essential reading for the course.
The library makes provision for all reading list items, with digital provision where possible, and these resources are shared between students.
Further reading can be obtained from this module's
reading list.
Assessment items, weightings and deadlines
| Coursework / exam |
Description |
Deadline |
Coursework weighting |
| Coursework |
Using Evidence in Healthcare Practice |
10/04/2025 |
100% |
Exam format definitions
- Remote, open book: Your exam will take place remotely via an online learning platform. You may refer to any physical or electronic materials during the exam.
- In-person, open book: Your exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer to any physical materials such as paper study notes or a textbook during the exam. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, open book (restricted): The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer only to specific physical materials such as a named textbook during the exam. Permitted materials will be specified by your department. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, closed book: The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may not refer to any physical materials or electronic devices during the exam. There may be times when a paper dictionary,
for example, may be permitted in an otherwise closed book exam. Any exceptions will be specified by your department.
Your department will provide further guidance before your exams.
Overall assessment
Reassessment
Module supervisor and teaching staff
hhsohlth@essex.ac.uk
No
No
No
No external examiner information available for this module.
Available via Moodle
No lecture recording information available for this module.
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