Randomised Controlled Trials vs. Observational Studies

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• Format Videos
• Language/s English
• Target Audience Further education, Self-directed learning
• EBM Stage 0 - Why EBM?
• Duration <5 mins
• Difficulty Intermediate

Key Concepts addressed

• 2-1a Comparison groups should be similar
• 2-1d People should not know which treatment they get
• 2-3d Fair comparisons with few people or outcome events can be misleading

Details

In this 5 minute video Michael Lauer, director of the Division of Cardiovascular Studies at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute at NIH, argues that the use of randomized controlled trials is the best way to answer research questions. He explains why RCTs are effective, the challenges with conducting large trials, and how to get the medical community more engaged in these efforts.