Using primary care electronic health records for research
Module Aims:
This module aims to provide students with an introduction to the use of routine data for research, with particular emphasis on the use of data collected from primary care. It will provide students with the skills to identify the issues with and understand the complexities of, working with routine data, allowing them to effectively appraise and evaluate the quality of published work as well as providing a solid foundation for their own robust study designs. A number of statistical methods and techniques appropriate for recoding and analysing routine data will be introduced and students will be assisted through practical sessions to apply this knowledge to example datasets.
Module Learning Outcomes:
By the end of the module students should be able to:
- Be familiar with sources of routine data in primary care, including patient level data, practice level data, disease registries and linked datasets
- Understand the strengths and limitations of routine data in primary care
- Be aware of key legislative and ethical issues pertaining to use of routine data
- Understand key elements of study design in relation to routine data in primary care
- Apply appropriate statistical methods for the analysis of routine data
- Understand key methodological issues relevant to routine data in primary care (e.g. missing data, clinical coding, record linkage)
- Use data from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) for research
Pre-requisites:
Principles of Epidemiology, Principles of Biostatistics, Applied Data Analysis
Teaching Strategy:
The course will be delivered using a combination of lectures, discussions around example research papers, and practical data analysis sessions. The latter will employ example data drawn from CPRD.
Assessment:
This module will be assessed by the submission one week after the end of the module of a practical study design assignment using a predefined research question.
Module Length: 2 days