I do love CASP TtT and have been reminded of that fact after three absorbing days in Oxford facilitating the 2018 course.
Teaching statistics and evidence based practice can be scary so we try to make it fun. We ask our participants how confident they are on day 1. Usually the answer is ‘not very’. Then we discuss educational theory, play interactive games, teach difficult concepts in different ways and give people a safe space to try it out getting supportive feedback. We ask about confidence again on day 3 and, almost always, see an improvement. The attendees are more confident at the end than they were at the start and we have seen them go on to teach, bring CASP tools to others and use CASP skills in their work. I was a participant first (many years ago) and am still teaching now!
Telling good evidence from bad is such an important skill for anyone working in public health or healthcare to have. We often start a session by asking the question why? What happens if we don’t use good evidence to make healthcare decisions?
Well, these sorts of thing happen. We tell people there might be a link between the MMR vaccine and autism, vaccination rates drop and kids die. We take decades to introduce clot busting drugs immediately after heart attacks and grown ups die. There are many more examples.
So CASP teaches decision makers, knowledge professionals, pharmacologists, junior doctors, midwives, medical publishers, surgeons, healthcare commissioners, (anyone really), how to tell good evidence from bad, and how to pass that knowledge on.
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this course and it has been deeply satisfying to see our participants grow in confidence. It feels as if they came with the passion to make a difference and we have given them a few tools to make that job easier.
I am looking forward to the next course. Maybe we can run one for you.....
Visit the CASP website for more information.