Consider a room that is vibrating with enthusiasm as participants from all backgrounds come, and dive into the world of systematic review and meta-analysis, ready to discover the fresh insights and practical skills that will take them to fulfilment. The workshop on “Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Interventional Studies” was conducted on 16 May 2023 at the International Medical University by the School of Medicine as a face-to-face workshop.
The objective of this workshop is to appraise the principles and objectives of a systematic review of interventional studies. It also aims to illustrate how to extract pertinent data from the chosen articles and conduct statistical analysis using relevant software. The workshop was attended by diverse participants, including medical doctors, dental surgeons, individuals with a pharmacy background, public health experts, biomedical scientists, medical students, psychologists, and clinicians.
During the workshop, Prof Renu Agarwal highlighted the background of evidence-based medicine and various study designs. Additionally, Dr Htet Htet conducted, and shared the main theme of the workshop, which centered around introducing the concepts of systematic review and meta-analysis for interventional studies. The speaker conducted the practical aspects, of selecting the title, PICO criteria, registration of protocol, data extraction, as well as using different and useful software.
| Hands-on sessions in the Afternoon | |
|---|---|
| A/Prof Heethal Jaiprakash | How to conduct a systematic study search, the second hands-on session |
| Prof Dr Igor Nikolayevich Lezhitsa | Risk of bias assessment |
| Dr Htet Htet | Risk of bias assessment, the third hands-on session on data extraction, data analysis and data interpretation |
Engagement throughout the workshop was awesome. Participants raised questions during the talk, during hands-on and mealtimes as well. Some experienced participants share their knowledge which seems to be warm and positive. Feedback from the audience seemed to be quite satisfactory except the participants who suggested for more time for hands-on sessions.
| Comments by the participants: | |
|---|---|
| Very comprehensive and well-delivered | Good workshop |
| Good | Excellent |
| It is very useful workshop for me | I learned many things from this workshop. |
All in all, we believe that this workshop can highlight the introduction of systematic review and meta-analysis to different levels of audiences and improve networking activities. External participants were exchanging emails for more assistance and collaboration.
Overall, the workshop was successful and seemed to have a positive impact on the participants. The organiser, Dr Htet, expressed her gratitude to Prof Renu Agarwal, Prof Igor Nikolayevich Lezhitsa and A/Prof Heethal Jaiprakash for their kind contribution to the workshop as well as the IMU Centre for Lifelong Learning (ICL team), the Facilities Management Administration team of IMU (FMA), and other administrative staff from the School of Medicine for their kind support throughout the process.
The purpose of evidence-based medicine (EBM) is to improve medical outcomes based on the best quality evidence available, we are glad that we are contributing to the EBM and sharing knowledge with other health professionals, even if only in a sprinkling manner. The organiser is looking for another opportunity to conduct this again, from a slightly different approach with more components of hands-on activities as suggested by the participants.
