Students will learn how to formulate a searchable question; the pros and cons of different information sources; how to structure a computerised database search; important fields in MEDLINE; useful practical tips for searching MEDLINE; methodological filters, journal citation reports, and how to organise and manage references. The assignment requires students to demonstrate their search skills for three clinical problems (marks allocated for how many relevant articles found, the content terms used, the methodological terms used, and the databases searched) and to demonstrate skills in the use of Web of Science and Endnote.

Students will learn how to critically appraise a review of the effectiveness of an intervention; how to do a meta-analysis; how to weigh up benefits and harms (applicability); how to avoid misleading meta-analyses and how to find or do better systematic reviews. At the end of this unit, participants should be able to: search for systematic reviews; critically appraise reviews of randomised controlled trials, do a meta-analysis of randomised trials using available software; and use meta-analytic methods for weighing up benefits and harms of an intervention in individual patient management and practice policy development. The assignment task is to: outline a clinical or health policy decision that you need to make; identify a systematic review that can help you with your decision-making; critically appraise this source; outline your decision and how you used the evidence to reach it; outline what additional information you would like and how you would obtain it (this may include further analyses on the data presented in the review, further reviews or suggestions for further primary studies).

The Surgical Pathology Unit of Study course in an online course available in Semester 1 or 2. It is based on examination of macroscopic pathology specimens (bottles) located in the Pathology Museum collection and examination of microscopic slides of relevant pathological processes. The course runs over 13 weeks and covers 12 topics. Each week several streamed videos, corresponding Powerpoint presentations and additional reading, are provided to students. This material will take approximately 2-3 hours to complete. Following viewing of the teaching media, students complete an online quiz, which contributes to the final assessment. Additionally, students will prepare an in-dept, semi structured assignment on a pathological process, where possible of relevant to their particular interests. An optional weekend in-house practical session at the University of Sydney will be offered to students late in the semester (May or October), where students will be provided with practical tutorials covering many of the topics within the course. The practicals will involve viewing relevant bottles and slides. Participation is not compulsory. Topics that will be covered in the course will include basic pathological processes (eg immunology, inflammation, neoplasia etc) and systems pathology (eg cardiovascular, respiratory, gastroenterology, neurology, genitourinary, orthopaedic etc).

This unit provides students with core skills in epidemiology, particularly the ability to critically appraise public health and clinical epidemiological research literature. This unit covers: study types; measures of frequency and association; measurement bias; confounding/effect modification; randomized trials; systematic reviews; screening and test evaluation; infectious disease outbreaks; measuring public health impact and use and interpretation of population health data. It is expected that students spend an additional 2-3 hours preparing for their tutorials.

This unit aims to provide students with an introduction to statistical concepts, their use and relevance in public health. This unit covers descriptive analyses to summarise and display data; concepts underlying statistical inference; basic statistical methods for the analysis of continuous and binary data; and statistical aspects of study design. Specific topics include: sampling; probability distributions; sampling distribution of the mean; confidence interval and significance tests for one-sample, two paired samples and two independent samples for continuous data and also binary data; correlation and simple linear regression; distribution-free methods for two paired samples, two independent samples and correlation; power and sample size estimation for simple studies; statistical aspects of study design and analysis. Students will be required to perform analyses using a calculator and will also be required to conduct analyses using statistical software (SPSS). It is expected that students spend an additional 2 hours per week preparing for their tutorials. Computing tasks are self-directed.

This unit aims to provide students with specific information on the concepts, methods and applications underpinning cancer prevention and control at population level. It is designed to address specific educational needs of students in various programs within the School of Public Health and to offer a broad-based perspective on cancer control, ranging from primary prevention, screening and early intervention, tertiary prevention and palliative care. Emphasis will be given to cancers with the greatest impact at population level and where evidence demonstrates that policies and interventions are capable of reducing cancer incidence, mortality, prolonging survival and improving quality of life. Although focusing on specific Australian conditions, the information will be presented in the context of regional cancer control efforts. At the completion of the unit, students will be equipped with the basic tools to design, plan, implement and evaluate cancer control programs in Australia or their own countries.

This course offers a broad-based integrated perspective on chronic disease prevention. The course reviews the epidemiology of selected chronic diseases with the highest impact at population level in Australia (cardiovascular diseases; cancer; chronic lung disease; diabetes and chronic renal disease). The information will focus on Australian settings, but presented within the context of a regional perspective of chronic disease prevention.
Teaching will focus on the interrelationships between the biological and epidemiological aspects of chronic diseases, the interplay between determinants of health and chronic disease, and the balance between high risk and population based strategies for reducing disease burden, and exploring their applicability to disease prevention. Students will be involved in evaluating the effectiveness of different prevention strategies and will examine the role of health policy in developing effective and sustainable chronic disease management programs in different settings (in Australia and the region).

This unit covers simple and multiple linear regression; one-way analysis of variance to compare more than 2 groups; analysis of covariance to compare groups adjusting for confounders; testing for effect modification; calculating adjusted means; strategies for selecting the 'best' regression model; examination of residuals; regression to the mean; associated SAS programming. Each topic is covered by a 1 hour statistics lecture, a 1 hour SAS lecture, a 1 hour SAS practical and a 1 hour statistics tutorial to discuss the interpretation of the results. Each fortnight there is an exercise on the material covered in the statistics lecture. The SAS practical allows the necessary computing to answer the questions for the statistics tutorial the following week. The assignments will involve practical analysis and interpretation of a data set and between 10% and 20% of the marks for each assignment are for the SAS computing program.

In this unit the biostatistical concepts covered in earlier units are extended to cover analysis of epidemiological studies where the outcome variable is categorical. Topics of study include: testing for trend in a 2 x r contingency table; the Mantel-Haenszel test for the combination of several 2 x 2 tables, with estimation of the combined odds ratio and confidence limits; multiple logistic regression; Poisson regression; modelling strategy. The assignments will involve practical analysis and interpretation of categorical data. Data analyses will be conducted using statistical software (SAS).

During this unit, students learn to analyse data from studies in which individuals are followed up until a particular event occurs, e.g. death, cure, relapse, making use of follow-up data also for those who do not experience the event. This unit covers: Kaplan-Meier life tables; logrank test to compare two or more groups; Cox's proportional hazards regression model; checking the proportional hazards assumption; sample size calculations for survival studies. For each topic participants are given some material to read beforehand. This is followed by a lecture, then participants are given one or two exercises to do for the following week. These exercises are discussed in the tutorial at the next session before moving on to the next topic. That is, in most weeks the first hour is a tutorial and the lecture is given in the second hour. Participants are expected to run SAS programs in their own time. Preparation time for each session is 2-3 hours. The assignments both involve use of SAS to analyse a set of survival data.

Evidence-based Medicine involves the application of current best evidence when making decisions about the care of patients, but where is the evidence in Surgery and how strong is it? This course will provide a step-by-step guide that will demystify and guide students through the process of surgical research. The focus is to provide students with the knowledge, tools and skills to undertake their own research study both within the Masters of Surgery and beyond, leading to research output. It will also provide direct instruction on how to read, understand and fully evaluate surgical publications to enable students to apply the findings to their own clinical practice.
The course will cover the following key steps: the identification of study questions, searching and appraising the literature, selecting appropriate study design, determining appropriate outcome measures and methods for data collection. It will also cover issues affecting study quality, such as bias and confounding, research ethics and governance. By the end of the course students will be able to (i) read, understand and critically appraise surgical publications and (ii) develop a research protocol and undertake a comprehensive literature review in their selected clinical area of interest with a view to subsequent peer-review publication.

Increasingly, surgeons are expected to present and publish papers, but little tuition or guidance is provided to enable these goals to be achieved. This course will ensure that students are confident writing and revising papers for peer-review publication and are able to prepare abstracts and deliver presentations at scientific meetings. The key focus is on achieving key research output with the explicit aim of enhancing the CVs of surgeons-in-training.
This course will include an explanation of how to interpret, summarise and present results from students' own surgical research studies and include them in abstracts and original manuscripts. Students will be equipped with a standardized and highly successful approach to preparing abstracts and delivering professional presentations at scientific meetings and writing and revising papers for peer-review publication. Other key topics covered include: application and translation of research findings to patient care and clinical settings, an overview of career pathways for clinical academics and funding applications to fund future research studies. By the end of the course students will be confident in (i) writing papers for peer-review publication, (ii) delivering powerful, professional presentations at scientific meetings; and (iii) applying research findings to care of their own patients.

The dissertation is a formal piece of writing relevant to the subject area of the masters degree. Candidates will work on a specified research project under appropriate supervision. At least one of the project supervisors must be an academic staff member of the University. The dissertation is in Parts A and B, both of which will be completed in a minimum of one year of full time study or two years of part time study.

The dissertation is a formal piece of writing relevant to the subject area of the masters degree. Candidates will work on a specified research project under appropriate supervision. At least one of the project supervisors must be an academic staff member of the University. The dissertation is in Parts A and B, both of which will be completed in a minimum of one year of full time study or two years of part time study.

The unit of study aims to introduce all types of imaging relevant to the practice of surgery, to understand the underlying physical and technological principles upon which imaging relies and to know the indications for use and complications of imaging. By the end of the unit students will understand the scientific basis of the various imaging modalities and the indications for their use and appreciate the importance of protection of patients and personnel from the harmful effects of imaging.
The contents of the unit are: B mode, spectral analysis and duplex ultrasound; computerised tomography; magnetic resonance; positron emission tomography; radio isotope imaging; angiography; imaging guided therapeutic techniques and safety measures in imaging.

The aims of the unit are for the student to acquire knowledge of body composition in health and malnutrition and to understand adaptive response of the body to stress, trauma and sepsis. By the end of the unit the student will become competent in providing enteral and parenteral nutritional therapy to metabolically compromised patients.
Content includes body composition in health and malnutrition; measurement of malnutrition; sequence of stress response; enteral nutrition and parenteral nutrition.

This unit of study aims to gain insight into safety in surgery from dual perspectives; that of the individual surgeon 'on the spot' as well as the broader social, technological and political context. At the end of the unit, students will have learned to appreciate performance limitations of individuals and teams, develop personal safety skills and behaviours and develop skills in debriefing, incident analysis and disclosure.
Content includes generic industrial accidents, mishaps and near misses; human factors, psychology and surgical decision making, team theory and critical incident debriefing, incident analysis and disclosure.

The objective of this unit of study is for participants to develop a greater understanding of the anatomy, pathophysiology and treatment options for peripheral vascular disorders by open or endovascular means. This unit of study will introduce students to key areas of vascular anatomy and pathology at an advanced level. Where appropriate, vascular imaging will be incorporated. Course participants will also be exposed to other relevant disciplines, including cardiology, radiology and endocrinology. By the end of the course, participants will have developed a critical knowledge of the academic basis for contemporary vascular surgery.

The course will deliver focused sessions on applied Microsurgical anatomy, and practical training in Microsurgery - Micro vascular and micro neural techniques. Real time demonstrations, Video, other visual and printed material will be used to aid teaching and to supplement the "eyes on scope" sessions. Sessions will comprise of brief lecture, demonstration of techniques to be developed in the class, followed by supervised Microsurgical practice with set objectives and standards. Students will keep a detailed log book and present a discussion paper on an element of Microsurgery they find challenging or stimulating.

The course will deliver focused sessions on applied laparoscopic anatomy, pertinent to specific procedures in colorectal, upper gastrointestinal, general, urological and gynaecological surgery. Video, other visual and printed material will be used to aid teaching of the abdominal, pelvic and retroperitoneal laparoscopic anatomy involved in these procedures. Printed material and worksheets will be read and completed prior to each session. Sessions will comprise one hour on anatomy, 30 minutes on technological and science issues regarding translation of applied anatomy to the laparoscopic perception, and 30 minutes on developing and presentation of the course assignment which will be the preparation of an audiovisual teaching tool on the advanced laparoscopic anatomy of a specific operation of interest to the student.

Over 15,000 Australians have or will develop end-stage organ failure this year, and this number is expected to grow exponentially with the rise in underlying conditions such as diabetes and hepatitis C. Organ transplantation is thus becoming increasingly important as a therapeutic modality. This unit of study will provide an overview of the surgical and medical management of solid organ transplant donors and recipients. Course participants will also explore the demographics, underlying conditions and co-morbidities of transplant recipients, the role of randomised clinical trials in the management of transplant immunosuppression, and the ethical aspects of transplantation. The major learning activities of this unit will be based around six cases in clinical transplantation.

The objective of this unit of study is for participants to develop greater understanding of the operative anatomy, pathophysiology and treatment options for complex hepatobiliary and pancreatic diseases by laparoscopic or open means. This unit of study will introduce participants to key areas of operative anatomy, pathology, imaging and surgical techniques at an advanced level. By the end of the course, participants will have developed the ability to critically appraised contemporary hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgical practice.

Candidates in this whole body dissection course are required to dissect a whole embalmed cadaver, over 12 weeks, according to the classical dissection methods of Cunningham's Manuals of Practical Anatomy. Candidates dissect in supervised groups of 6, according to a strict daily dissection schedule, so utilising team based learning (TBL) methods. This is a proven technique for teaching clinical topographical anatomy to surgical trainees. Throughout this course there is a strong emphasis on applied clinical and surgical anatomy. Supervision is by surgeons.
There are 34 daily dissection sessions (three per week Mon, Tues, Wed) over the 12 weeks of the course. This will provide a total of 204 hours of dissection experience (6 hours per day). All candidates are required to complete the prescribed pre-reading tasks according to the schedule and are submitted to a weekly formative wet-specimen viva voce examination. There is a final written summative wet specimen practical examination at the end of the course. This course provides a comprehensive whole body dissection experience, which when completed provides a detailed three-dimensional "mind map" of the various regions of the human body, so essential to surgical practice.

Candidates in this whole body dissection course are required to dissect a whole embalmed cadaver, over 12 weeks, according to the classical dissection methods of Cunningham's Manuals of Practical Anatomy. Candidates dissect in supervised groups of 6, according to a strict daily dissection schedule, so utilising team based learning (TBL) methods. This is a proven technique for teaching clinical topographical anatomy to surgical trainees. Throughout this course there is a strong emphasis on applied clinical and surgical anatomy. Supervision is by surgeons.
There are 34 daily dissection sessions (three per week Mon, Tues, Wed) over the 12 weeks of the course. This will provide a total of 204 hours of dissection experience (6 hours per day). All candidates are required to complete the prescribed pre-reading tasks according to the schedule and are submitted to a weekly formative wet-specimen viva voce examination. There is a final written summative wet specimen practical examination at the end of the course. This course provides a comprehensive whole body dissection experience, which when completed provides a detailed three-dimensional "mind map" of the various regions of the human body, so essential to surgical practice.

Candidates in this whole body dissection course are required to dissect a whole embalmed cadaver, over 12 weeks, according to the classical dissection methods of Cunningham's Manuals of Practical Anatomy. Candidates dissect in supervised groups of 6, according to a strict daily dissection schedule, so utilising team based learning (TBL) methods. This is a proven technique for teaching clinical topographical anatomy to surgical trainees. Throughout this course there is a strong emphasis on applied clinical and surgical anatomy. Supervision is by surgeons.
There are 34 daily dissection sessions (three per week Mon, Tues, Wed) over the 12 weeks of the course. This will provide a total of 204 hours of dissection experience (6 hours per day). All candidates are required to complete the prescribed pre-reading tasks according to the schedule and are submitted to a weekly formative wet-specimen viva voce examination. There is a final written summative wet specimen practical examination at the end of the course. This course provides a comprehensive whole body dissection experience, which when completed provides a detailed three-dimensional "mind map" of the various regions of the human body, so essential to surgical practice.

Candidates in this whole body dissection course are required to dissect a whole embalmed cadaver, over 12 weeks, according to the classical dissection methods of Cunningham's Manuals of Practical Anatomy. Candidates dissect in supervised groups of 6, according to a strict daily dissection schedule, so utilising team based learning (TBL) methods. This is a proven technique for teaching clinical topographical anatomy to surgical trainees. Throughout this course there is a strong emphasis on applied clinical and surgical anatomy. Supervision is by surgeons.
There are 34 daily dissection sessions (three per week Mon, Tues, Wed) over the 12 weeks of the course. This will provide a total of 204 hours of dissection experience (6 hours per day). All candidates are required to complete the prescribed pre-reading tasks according to the schedule and are submitted to a weekly formative wet-specimen viva voce examination. There is a final written summative wet specimen practical examination at the end of the course. This course provides a comprehensive whole body dissection experience, which when completed provides a detailed three-dimensional "mind map" of the various regions of the human body, so essential to surgical practice.

Two sets of competencies that are essential for a career in surgery will be taught - firstly, the non clinical competencies of leadership, communication, collaboration, health advocacy, scholar and teacher plus the essentials of ethics and health law, and secondly the essential technical skills involved with open and endoscopic / laparoscopic surgery.

This Unit of Study teaches the Physiology required for surgeons, and examined in the RACS Surgical Science Examination. The content will be based on Ganong's Review of Medical Physiology plus Respiratory Physiology - The Essentials JB West. The Unit of Study also teaches the Pharmacology required for surgeons condensed into a single 1.5 hr lecture.

The aim of this course is to prepare the student for the Anatomy component of the Part 1 examination of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. Each of the 8 modules has three components:
i) Identification of tagged anatomical structures in wet prosections of the anatomical area for the session
ii) Multiple choice question (MCQ) exercises
iii) "Spot" questions on anatomical prosection photographs
The methodology used in the latter two components is similar to that used by RACS in the Part 1 examination. The 8 modules comprise: upper limb (2), lower limb (2), head and neck (4), thorax (1), abdomen (3), and pelvis (1). Self directed study is required before each of the sessions.

The objective of this unit is to provide candidates with an understanding of key methodological concepts of level one evidence based studies needed to conduct high quality surgical research. It will cover basic concepts on how to identify when is surgery research, principles of good clinical research practice and provide the necessary skills on how to measure the quality of care. Key topics focus on how to identify, appraise, select and synthesise a systematic review and meta-analysis. The use of databases and registries and how to best present statistical analysis and summarise data. This unit will provide candidates with the skills to measure the quality of surgical care as well as evaluate surgical performance and measures of effects. Candidates will be able to critically appraise published statistics and learn to identify publication bias before applying the findings to their own clinical practice. Introductory Biostatistics (PUBH5018) is not a pre-requisite, however it is recommended.

The objective of this unit is to introduce candidates to the basic concepts of innovation. Participants will be able to identify and evaluate surgical innovation as well as focus on the methodological and practical challenges to rigorous surgical research. Candidates will be have the skills to design and complete level one evidence based research in surgery with a key focus on randomised and non-randomised controlled trials. The course will evaluate the complexity of surgical innovation and how to identify related factors influencing outcome. Candidates should be able to identify challenges facing the surgical research community when performing an evaluation of a therapeutic, procedure-based intervention. How to pinpoint the issues and deconstruct these into constituent methodological parts such that several important areas will be targeted for developing a systematic process that would guide appropriate, evidence based surgical practice. Ethical aspects in research and innovation will be addressed and the process of translational research will be reviewed. Other broad topics will focus on surgical oncology and survival analysis; evaluating performance when measuring the value of surgical research and the key concepts in diagnostic tests and accuracy in surgery.