Health Research PgCert

The Postgraduate Certificate (PGCert) in Health Research is designed for medical and dental trainees with the potential to be the independent researchers of the future, and to be taken part-time alongside work commitments, normally over one or two years. The Postgraduate Certificate in Health Research will help you to develop skills of research, design and data analysis in both qualitative and quantitative research; critically evaluate health research; identify, critically appraise and incorporate the results of medical and social science research into the day-to-day decision-making of clinical, scientific and administrative practice; apply the principles of evidence-based practice in health care settings; plan how to implement the findings of research to improve health care; and use theories and principles underpinning clinical research to inform your own research practice. The course is delivered through the Department for Continuing Education, with the expertise in curriculum design and teaching drawn from the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine and the Clinical Academic Graduate School.

By the end of the course you will be able to demonstrate a knowledge of the principles, methods and techniques appropriate for solving evidence-based health care and health care problems and be able to translate that understanding into good clinical practice, through a critical comprehension of the relative advantages and disadvantages; demonstrate a range of research skills enabling you to complete research successfully, either as part of a research team or as an individual; acquire, interpret and analyse biological information with a critical understanding of the appropriate contexts for their use through the study of the existing primary literature in the field; and apply skills and expertise gained across the medical and biological sciences expected of professional researchers. Most who commence this course are already in employment within the health sector. The course offers opportunities for career enhancement through developing a better understanding of research tools and analytical skills, and of how to use these to inform research practice. Many also go on to study for the Postgraduate Diploma in Health Research or MSc in Evidence-Based Health Care.