Education and Research
What to know
Education and research underpin evidence-based practice. Candidates should understand adult learning principles (relevance, practice, feedback), competency validation, and the difference between education (knowledge) and competency (demonstrated skill). Research literacy includes study designs (cohort, case-control, cross-sectional, randomized trial), bias, confounding, and the hierarchy of evidence. Know how to read an outbreak report and apply findings to practice.
Concepts that recur
- Cohort study: exposed vs unexposed, calculates relative risk.
- Case-control study: cases vs controls, calculates odds ratio.
- Cross-sectional: prevalence at a point.
- Randomized controlled trial: strongest for causality.
- Confounding: a third variable distorting the association.
- Bias: selection, information, recall.
Traps
- Confusing relative risk with odds ratio.
- Assuming association equals causation.
- Ignoring confounding when interpreting an association.
- Treating a single study as definitive.
- Confusing education with competency validation.
Worked example / rule of thumb
A study finds hand hygiene compliance associated with lower infection rates, but compliant units also had more staffing. Staffing is a confounder. Rule of thumb: before accepting a finding, ask “what else could explain this?” and check the study design. For education, always pair teaching with a competency check.