By Tara Haelle
If you’re relatively new to reporting on medical studies or looking for a refresher as you dive back in after a long hiatus, Sharon Begley’s blog piece earlier this year and this quick-and-dirty refresher at AHCJ’s Medical Studies core topic area are great places to start. But as you spend more time reporting on research, you need to learn more of the nuts and bolts and drill down into specifics of study design, drug approval, and related topics.
You need a Medical Research 201 rather than a 101. Here’s one way to conduct a self-guided tutorial if you already feel comfortable with the basics: Check out this SlideShare presentation by Swaroop Kumar Koduri, Key Concepts of Clinical Research & Clinical Trial. It’s a 101-slide overview of nearly every possible concept you’re likely to need to know as you report on medical research.
The presentation doesn’t define every term, nor fully explain all the concepts – and its length can be a bit overwhelming. But whether you’re a relative newbie to the beat or do know your stuff (and know how much you still don’t know), the time investment will give you a firmer grounding in understanding medical research – closer to graduate-level epidemiology and clinical trial design.
As you read, you’ll likely come across terms or concepts you want to understand better. The slides accompanied a lecture and provide only the overview and highlights. So open AHCJ’s medical studies page in a separate window of your browser and go through them together as a self-guided tutorial.
Here are some of the concepts you’ll see in Koduri’s SlideShare presentation:
- In-depth details of clinical trials and their phases.
- Drug development and review process.
- Pilot trials vs. pivotal trials; parallel vs. cross-over studies, and similar comparisons.
- Details description of other study designs.
- Types of randomization and stratification.
- Details on blinding and control groups.
- Institutional review boards, participant protections and informed consent.
- Barriers and benefits of clinical trial participation.
- Specifics on all aspects of assessing drugs, including stability, validation, and efficacy.
Come across a term or concept that we haven’t yet covered, or want a more detailed tip sheet on a particular topic? Let us know by emailing me at tara@healthjournalism.org.
