This document provides an overview of a short course in epidemiology for clinicians. The course aims to help clinicians understand how epidemiological concepts can enhance clinical practice by applying principles to decision making, risk assessment, interpreting tests and literature. It covers topics like study designs, statistical analysis, biases and applying evidence-based practices. The 5 modules include sessions on epidemiology applications in clinics, evidence-based medicine, epidemiological methods, statistical concepts and getting started in research. Overall, the course aims to equip clinicians with skills in epidemiology, evidence interpretation and undertaking clinical research.

1. A short course in Epidemiology for Clinicians
Why this course?
This course is intended for the clinicians to understand how epidemiological
concepts can make a vital contribution to enhance clinical practice.
Epidemiological principles can be applied to clinical practice in decision support,
interpreting the results of diagnostic tests, assessing and communicating risk and
prognosis, and in identifying appropriate treatment for individual patients. They
are also of value to clinicians involved in planning, monitoring and improving
services, teaching medical students and postgraduates, critically appraising
medical literature, and undertaking or supervising research.
Now more than ever clinicians need to understand evidence. Healthcare is evolving
rapidly with innovation leading to ever more effective and efficient diagnostic
tools, treatments, service delivery, and preventive interventions. Being able to
interpret clinical trials, meta-analyses, systematic reviews, and the results of
individual investigations and apply these to the patient sitting in front of us is a
greater challenge than ever given the volume of evidence being generated. Much
of the evidence needed in the consulting room comes from studies of populations,
and understanding these kinds of data requires good epidemiological skills and
insights.
This course is an invaluable means for grasping the principles of epidemiology as
applied to everyday clinical practice. It introduces concepts such as distribution,
measurement, and risk in relation to diagnosis and management, making them
very relevant for medical students and junior doctors.
The course objectives are
1. To understand research designs and simple statistical methods to be able
to read and understand the literature
2. To sharpen the clinicians' skills to undertake clinical research.
3. To equip the clinician to read, analyse and interpret the published research
data

2. Course content:
Session Content
Epidemiology in
the clinic
• Introduction to epidemiology & examples of its
practical application in the clinical setting
• The Diagnostic Process
• Management Decisions
• Risk Communication and Promoting Health
Evidence Based
Practice
• Finding and summarizing evidence
• Routine health care data, mainly as applied to the
safety of medical interventions
• Preventive Medicine and Screening. Clinical utility of
diagnostic procedures and screening
• Evaluating Clinical Practice
Epidemiologic
Methods
• Sources of Data
• Types of Study
• Design and conduct of cohort studies and RCTs
• Design and conduct of case-control studies
Statistical
Concepts
• Types of disease and case definition, incidence,
mortality, prevalence, attributable risk, relative risk,
odds ratio, population attributable risk, attributable
proportion
• Prognostic markers
• Diagnostic markers
• Bias, measurement error, confounding & effect
modification
• Populations and samples, hypothesis testing,
estimation with confidence intervals, power. Taught
through practical demonstration of findings rather
than theory
Getting started in
research
• Grant applications, ethical approval & research
governance

3. Module I: Epidemiology in the clinic
14th
December to 16.12.2020
Session1: 14.12.2020 Dr V Chandrasekhar
Topic: Introduction to epidemiology & examples of its practical application
in the clinical setting
Objectives:
1. Defining normal and abnormal
2.
Session2: 15.12.2020 Dr S P Rao
Topic: The Diagnostic Process and the Management Process
Objectives:
1. Validity of the diagnostic tests and the parameters of validity
2. Clinical uses of predictive values
3. Pre-test, Post-test probabilities and Likelihood ratios
4. Clinical scoring system
5. Principles of Clinical management decisions (prognosis & prognostic factors)
6. Evidence Based management (EBM)
7. Clinical Guidelines
8. How effective is the treatment?
9. Interpreting Clinical trial results
10.Patient centered Decision making
Session3: 16.12.2020 Dr S P Rao
Topic: Risk Communication and Promoting Health
Objectives:
1. Define risk factor, risk marker and protective factors
2. Quantification of risk factors (in the form of Relative risk, Attributable risk,
Odds ratio and Correlation)
3. How to identify the known and unknown risk factors
4. Health promotion in practice (smoking & alcohol; exercise, diet, weight)

4. 5. Could disease be prevented?
6. Investigation of outbreak
7. Breaking the chain of infection

5. Module II: Evidence Based Practice
17th
December to 19.12.2020
Session1: 17.12.2020 Dr Siva Kumar
Topic: Finding and summarizing evidence
Objectives:
1. Finding evidence – electronic resources
2. Critical Appraisal – Checklists CONSORT
3. Systematic Reviews
4. Meta-analysis - Interpretation
5.
Session2: 18.12.2020 Dr C Jyothi
Topic: Preventive Medicine and Screening. Clinical utility of diagnostic
procedures and screening
Objectives:
1. Preventive Strategies – High and Low risk
2. Levels of Prevention
3. Preventing Communicable Diseases
4. Preventing Non-Communicable Diseases
5. Basic Infectious Disease Epidemiology
6. Vaccination
7. Screening – screening programs – evaluation of screening program
Session3: 19.12.2020 Dr C Kumar
Topic: Evaluating Clinical Practice
Objectives:
1. Clinical Audit
2. Writing Protocol
3. Choosing the Sample
4. Data Collection- Analysis & Interpretation
5. Changing Practice

6. Module III:Epidemiologic Methods
21st
December to 24.12.2020
Session1: 21.12.2020 Dr Venkat Prasanna
Topic: Sources of Data and Types of Study
Objectives:
1. Types of Evidence
2. Cross sectional studies
Session2: 22.12.2020 Dr C Kumar
Topic: Design and conduct of cohort studies
Objectives:
1. Overview
2. Analysis & Interpretation
3. Strengths & weaknesses
4. Examples
Session3: 23.12.2020 Dr C Jyothi
Topic: Design and conduct of RCT studies
Objectives:
1. Overview
2. Types of studies
3. Trial Process
4. Analysis & Interpretation
5. Strengths & weaknesses
6. Examples
Session4: 24.12.2020 Dr Afreen
Topic: Design and conduct of Case control studies
Objectives:
1. Overview
2. Analysis & Interpretation
3. Strengths & weaknesses
4. Examples

7. Module IV: Statistical Concepts
26th
December to 31.12.2020
Session1 & 2: 26.12.2020 & 28.12.2020 Dr Basha
Topic: Statistical Concepts of Data
Objectives:
1. Quality of data
2. Routine data and its Clinical uses
3. Death Certification and Notifiable diseases
4. Statistical Concepts: Variables & summarization of data
5. Measures of Central Location & Measures of Dispersion
6. Sampling Variability
7. Probability Distributions
8. Confidence Intervals
9. Hypothesis Tests
10.Statistical or Clinical Significance
11.Sample size and Power calculations
12.When to consult a statistician
Session3: 29.12.2020 Dr S P Rao
Topic: Prognostic markers and Diagnostic markers
Objectives:
1. Prevention Paradox
2. What are markers
3. Diagnostic markers in cancer and their utility
4. Cardiac markers and genetic markers & their clinical significance
5. Prognostic markers and prognostic index
Session4: 30.12.2020 Dr Venkat Prasanna
Topic: Bias, measurement error, confounding & effect modification
Objectives:
1. Basic concepts in epidemiological research (Exposure, outcome,
confounder, bias, chance, Association, Causation)

8. 2. Translating Exposure, outcome, confounder, bias, chance, Association,
Causation in clinical setting
Session5: 31.12.2020 Dr Basha
Topic: Populations and samples, hypothesis testing
Objectives:
1. Types of hypothesis
2. Hypothesis testing methods
3. Samples and sampling methods
4. Hospital samples and their limitations

9. Module V: Getting started in research
1st
January 2021 to 2.1.2021
Session1: 1.1.2021 Dr Siva Kumar
Topic: Grant applications and Avenues for funding
Objectives:
1. What are grants?
2. Why should you apply for grants?
3. When should you apply for grants?
4. How should you apply for grants?
5. Where should you apply for grants?
Session2: 2.1.2021 Dr Sivakumar
Topic: Ethics approval and Guidelines
Objectives:
1. Applying for Ethics approval: Basic Principles
2. Ethics to be followed in Clinics
3. Autonomy, Maximizing benefit, Minimizing harm, Integrity and being fair
4. Consent methods
5. Conflict of interest