Effective Randomized Controlled Trials

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Key Features

Supports clinicians with strategies to design and conduct successful randomized clinical trials

Includes a workbook with keypoints, activities to reinforce the content, and additional online resources

Interactive workshop where the trainer stimulates engagement and discussion with the attendees

Format

1- or 2-day live workshop delivered by an expert trainer

Auditorium or classroom style

Available in-person or virtually

Audience

Up to 250 attendees

Tailored for early career clinical researchers aiming to conduct RCTs. Content can be adapted for specific clinical disciplines to be more appropriate for the expertise of the participants.

Masterclass in Effective Randomized Controlled Trials

Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) are often considered the gold standard for determining the efficacy of an intervention, and their results often determine the approval of therapeutics by drug regulation agencies. However, ensuring that RCTs are conducted properly and ethically to improve public health can often be challenging for clinical researchers. This 1-day workshop will provide practical insights and strategies to help attendees achieve this goal. Nature Masterclasses workshops are available in-person and virtually.

Effective Randomized Controlled Trials workshop - led by experts

1. Importance of randomized controlled trials in clinical research

  • Establishes why RCTs are the gold standard in evaluating the efficacy of an intervention
  • Highlights the difference between RCTs and observational studies
  • Reviews relevant limitations
when conducting RCTs

2. Ethical guidelines and trial registration

  • Discuss the Declaration of Helsinki and working with human participants
  • Emphasizing the importance of ethical approval of the study and clinical trial oversight
  • How to handle potential conflicts of interests
  • Reviews how to properly register the trial in a WHO-approved registry

3. Randomized clinical trial designs

  • Discusses the rationale for different phases and types of RCTs 

  • Reviews common RCT designs -- such as parallel, cross-over, factorial, and adaptive -- along with their advantages and disadvantages

NMT_Effective-Randomized-Controled-Trials_crop

4. Sampling and randomization methodologies

  • Discusses how to avoid underpowered studies 

  • Highlights how to identify appropriate inclusion and exclusion criteria
  • Reviews various sampling strategies
  • Introduces effective randomization strategies

5. Minimizing biases in randomized controlled trials

  • Reviews the impact of selection bias on the generalizability of the RCT

  • Introduces measurement/information biases that compromise the quality and validity of collected data
  • Disuccuss how to minimize attrition bias and how to deal with missing data
  • Emphasizes the importance of transparency in reporting RCTs by avoiding selective reporting and publication biases

Incredibly interactive course with a mix of interactivity and also information. Slides were excellent.

The presenter was very enthusiastic and very good at explaining things. I enjoyed the sessions and the activity workbook. It was helpful to be able to download the slides. It covered everything that I needed it to and ran smoothly. A nice amount of interactive activities and taught content.

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