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

4.7
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4,227 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

SS

Feb 25, 2023

awesome detailedoverviwe of clinical trials. it gave me a new insight. Improved chances of my job selection in the field. I improved on subject a lot during the course. Thank you teachers and coursera

TS

Jul 3, 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

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76 - 100 of 708 Reviews for Design and Interpretation of Clinical Trials

By Ana G O H

Dec 8, 2019

Lo bastante simple para ser accesible aunque hayan pasado años desde la última clase de estadística o investitación, pero lo bastante complejo y sistemático para valer la pena de ser revisado. Realmente aporta conocimiento importante en el área.

By Tiago V

Jun 5, 2017

Even if some of the topics might be considered "heavy" and boring, the organisers and presenters of this course made sure that everything was easy to understand.

Overall: Very useful for future work and topics were presented in an interesting way.

By M C

Dec 12, 2017

Great course - lectures well done. I loved the last last lecture and just wished there was more of the comparisons they drew between studies to bring the point home. Its always good to see good and bad studies to understand flaws and strengths.

By Austin E

Aug 2, 2020

Very helpful for learning practicals of why studies are designed certain ways, and how to understand and extrapolate from the research to determine if this research is actually helpful for advising the treatment of our patients in front of us.

By Tina S

May 24, 2017

Great starting point, offers fundamental knowledge on clinical trials design and interpretation, gets you familiar with the terminology and arouses interest for more information on this very interesting and exciting topic. Excellent course!

By Manuel O

May 16, 2022

Excellent course - not too long but very focused on the most important features of clinical trial design. I even recognized some of the examples being from my current work area, which helped to make it feel "applicable" to me and my work.

By Andrew C

Jun 12, 2022

This is a great introduction to the fundamentals of clinical trials.  The time-investment was well balanced for the depth of material presented.  Those already familiar with clinical trials basics may want to seek a more advanced course.

By Elizabeth G

Jul 14, 2022

Quick, easy to understand walk through of clinical trials! The examples are accessible, no prior knowledge is required to be successful in the course. If you do have previous knowledge of trial design, the course is a good refresher.

By Aedrian A

Jan 5, 2021

This is an impressive introductory course on the nitty-gritty on the preparation and conduct of clinical trials. However, a working knowledge on the basics of biostatistics and epidemiology is preferable before starting the material.

By Ayuk A

Apr 30, 2021

I have been working as a clinical trial assistant. I realized during the course that I did the right thing without understanding exactly why I did it. I was just taught to do it that way. I am happy I finally know the reason.

By Elvira D

Aug 22, 2020

I was interested to know about how clinical trials work. This course has helped me understand the details and technicalities associated with trials and so much more. The entire journey of learning has been amazing. Thankyou.

By Carlos A P B

Jun 7, 2021

This is a great course for those who want to introduce to the clinical research world. The professors are great and transmit the keypoints in a clearly and understandable way. Hoping to take some other courses from they!

By Luisa F D B

Jun 22, 2020

I think this course was really helpful for me, I am doing my Ph.D. and I have to carry a functional food clinical trial and this course helped me a lot with insights about the basic aspects and design of clinical trials

By Hannah K M L

May 1, 2020

I learned a lot about clinical trials! I used to be a lab specialist for CTs and know I have a better understanding of the terms that had been quite vague to me before! I am happy I took the time to learn this course!

By Hakim H

Sep 4, 2020

As a beginner and not knowing much about clinical trials other than reading them from the news, I learnt a lot about factors to consider when conducting a clinical trial. Good course for beginners and well explained!

By Fatma A

Sep 30, 2022

As a CRA I found this course particularly useful. Coming from public health bacground, I was more familiar with observational study designs compared to clinical trial designs. I surely learned a lot from the course.

By ayushi s

Jul 26, 2020

The course is outstanding in terms of understanding the minor definitions. I deeply go through every slide and the way they gives us an examples on every topic is really helpful and which incline me to learn more.

By Thiago X d N

Apr 26, 2019

I wish it had in all languages, including Brazilian Portuguese. It is an excellent course, I learned about the most diverse forms of study and research. The course is very valuable for my career and life mission.

By SARMAD H

May 21, 2018

This course has certainly provided the essential knowledge about clinical trial designs,

Moreover the lectures are of optimal length and does not burden you,

The way the course is designed and taught is excellent,

By Jennifer E

Jul 14, 2017

I am a new clinical research coordinator nurse and I took this course to gain knowledge about the studies I am coordinating so I am more familiar with the design of studies I am in and so I can be more efficient

By Sitie F A

Feb 28, 2017

Definitely a great add-on cert for those with healthcare professional backgrounds, biomedic graduates, prospective public health grad students, or those wishing to pursue a career in the pharmaceutical industry.

By Cliff S

Jul 15, 2019

Great class, Janet in particular is fun to listen to and you can really hear her dedication to the cause of making knowledge about clinical trials more broadly available. Last week (week 6) is the best by far.

By Agustina F

Mar 7, 2021

Fantastic course! It's very complete and the lessons are quite detailed too. I definitely appreciated the extra resources such as documents and webpages we could check for further information. I recommend it!

By 梁珩

Jul 6, 2017

It's quite helpful to learn about the clinical trials, especially since I'm newly transiting my career to this filed from the translational research field. Most of the modules are quite new and tough to me.

By Luna Z

Jul 23, 2020

good intro to clinical designs although i wish there is more info on the statistical analyses to piece everything together to provide a better understanding of everything, but overall an awesome experience