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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Design and Interpretation of Clinical Trials by Johns Hopkins University

4.7
stars
4,265 ratings

About the Course

Clinical trials are experiments designed to evaluate new interventions to prevent or treat disease in humans. The interventions evaluated can be drugs, devices (e.g., hearing aid), surgeries, behavioral interventions (e.g., smoking cessation program), community health programs (e.g. cancer screening programs) or health delivery systems (e.g., special care units for hospital admissions). We consider clinical trials experiments because the investigators rather than the patients or their doctors select the treatment the patients receive. Results from randomized clinical trials are usually considered the highest level of evidence for determining whether a treatment is effective because trials incorporates features to ensure that evaluation of the benefits and risks of treatments are objective and unbiased. The FDA requires that drugs or biologics (e.g., vaccines) are shown to be effective in clinical trials before they can be sold in the US. The course will explain the basic principles for design of randomized clinical trials and how they should be reported. In the first part of the course, students will be introduced to terminology used in clinical trials and the several common designs used for clinical trials, such as parallel and cross-over designs. We will also explain some of the mechanics of clinical trials, like randomization and blinding of treatment. In the second half of the course, we will explain how clinical trials are analyzed and interpreted. Finally, we will review the essential ethical consideration involved in conducting experiments on people....

Top reviews

TS

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High quality course ! covering important areas and detailed lectures, more and better than a mere introduction. Congrats ! My only regret : I'd have liked to hear more about NI and equivalence trials

OS

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This course would be most useful to the participant if pursued within a short time-frame, of maximum of 6 weeks. Both lecturers were clear and good communicators. I would take more of their classes.

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1 - 25 of 717 Reviews for Design and Interpretation of Clinical Trials

By João P J P

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Nov 18, 2018

I think that the course should provide a written material in order to deepen the learning process.

By Kevin S

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Jun 16, 2019

It is hard to describe what I didn't like about this course. I have a reasonable statistical background as well as a basic science and public health background, so I may be overly familiar with the material. I didn't find that going through the material helped me beyond what I could intuit from the basic principles of how to do a study. This isn't good, because I feel like someone without my background would be overwhelmed by the information presented and not be able to follow it. I also believe the lecture style was too conversational and not very organized. It feels like a little bit too much like the introduction to a journal club with 3rd year graduate students. The course should be for novices. Ultimately, everything felt like it was being described rather than taught. One positive I can say, is that I think the basic contents of the course are good, they just need to be organized properly and distilled down and focused. Instructors should resist any urge to randomly jump into discussions which are above the intended level of the course.

By valentina c

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Aug 25, 2017

Useful to get a general understanding of the complexity of a clinical trials and the many aspects that need to be taken into account. it would be incredibly helpful to have a more advanced and statistically-oriented module following this one.

By Oli S

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Sep 19, 2019

This course would be most useful to the participant if pursued within a short time-frame, of maximum of 6 weeks. Both lecturers were clear and good communicators. I would take more of their classes.

By Louise E

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Jul 26, 2020

The course was well designed and I enjoyed learning again.

I did wish that my course certificate gave my overall grade for the course, which was 100% in all modules. I wouldn't have kept retaking certain parts if I'd know the grade didn't appear on the certificate. Also, for non-US English speakers, the narration can be quite fast, which can make it a bit hard to follow at times. In addition, for some of the discussion posts, it would be better to use articles from publications that we don't have to subscribe to and also to assume the learner has no experience in the field, if possible.

By Diana E V G

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May 29, 2017

One of the best online courses I have taken so far at Coursera. Very helpful if you are new to the field and helps you to understand and interpret clinical data. I highly recommend this course.

By Mary C V

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Dec 3, 2018

A great course for people working in the Clinical Research industry! I definitely recommend!

By Martin W

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Apr 17, 2020

Solid Introduction. Listen to the videos (almost no graphics used, mostly notes), read the recommended texts and answer the questions. That was my experience. Classic teacher-centred teaching, besides the questionnaire no real active part. I asked one topic related question in the forum, no answer. If you keep all of that in mind, still recommended.

By Olga M

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Jul 1, 2019

Great course for basic introduction to clinical trials design, features and guidelines.

By Natalia O

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Apr 19, 2020

I have a PhD in biochemistry and work in pharma industry in R&D, I never had formal education on clinical trials and this course allowed me quickly learn the most important basic things about the subject to get a better understanding of a bigger picture for a journey of a new medicine. That was exactly what I was looking for. I am really grateful that I could access that resource. It was really helpful. Thank you for making this course openly available.

By Lorenzo G

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Apr 13, 2020

I took this course right after I started working in Phase 1 and 2 clinical trials. This is a very insightful course that includes many aspects of clinical research, which are very important to know regardless if your role in the clinic. The lectures are well structured and are just the right length. I completed it in a weekend and got my certificate right away, definitely recommended for anyone who wishes to be part of this industry.

By Puneet M

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Apr 4, 2020

Indeed a great course, simple, informative, and exactly what is expected to a person associated with clinical research. Its more apt for a new investigator or writer to understand the basics.. a little more than the basics. :)

By Thomas P S

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Jul 4, 2018

High quality course ! covering important areas and detailed lectures, more and better than a mere introduction. Congrats ! My only regret : I'd have liked to hear more about NI and equivalence trials

By cen c

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Jun 5, 2020

I would highly recommend this course as I found it well-structured and helpful. After studying all the materials, I gained a great amount of knowledge in designing and interpretating clinical trail.

By Jose Q

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Oct 26, 2019

Excellent beginner course on design and interpretation of clinical trials, complements a lot of what I reviewed on my classes and I would like to take a more advanced course on the topic. Thank you.

By Alba M M L

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Jan 30, 2019

This is a really good course if you are starting your journey in a clinical trials. It's really helpful to learn vocabulary related to this field.

By VICTOR P G

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Apr 7, 2016

This course has really helped me in my understanding and appreciation of how research should be conducted.

Thank You

By Panagiotis N

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Sep 12, 2017

This is an educational course that will introduce you many aspects of a clinical trial.

Things to improve: A. instructors/mentors are not responsive and any question that you may have, will remain unanswered and B.some videos are quite lengthy.

By Bhaskar G

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May 27, 2020

Nice, but statistical methods for calculation of sample size and power calculations must have been included in greater detail.

By Sara C

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Jan 5, 2019

This is a very well structured course and great to have a basic and general idea of the main points to verify when either designing or, most importatnt in my case, how to evaluate publications about clinical trials. I would recommend this course for users with at least a minimum scientific background. The videos are engaging, and the reading material supplied (mostly for ethics and reporting) are complete and helps to give depth to what I learned. Congratulations to the organizers. I will definitely take more courses from this University, online, in the future.

By Latoya G

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Apr 15, 2020

I commend and thank Dr Holbrook and Dr Drye for creating such a comprehensive course in such a short time frame. I am pleased with level of knowledge i gained. I will definitely be completing other related courses from Johns Hopkins University.

By Daniel M F

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Dec 17, 2020

Very good balance of general and in-depth content as well as technical and non-technical information. Well structured so it is easy to follow. Both presenters have an adequate pace and clear voice.

By Ayeesha M

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Mar 20, 2016

This course is well-designed, well-paced and well-structured. The study examples described in this course really help you understand the importance of design and interpretation of clinical trials.

By Tsinatkeab T H

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May 31, 2018

I was able to learn a lot from this course. The lectures and the sequence of the presentations were logical and clear to understand. I will definitely recommend this course for my colleagues.

By Lisa L

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Apr 5, 2019

Thrilled to finish this course. I'm gonna use what I learnt from this course in my current job and share with my colleagues.