Join us for our next Online Open Day - 14th July - 12pm GMT

ScHARR is well known as a provider of excellent online learning programmes in public health, health management and health technology assessment. With the current shift to home-working for many people, the possibility of also learning from home is an opportunity worth considering. Our online programmes at ScHARR meet the same high academic standard as our campus-based programmes here at the University of Sheffield. As a top 100 international university, we ensure our online programmes are rigorous and engaging, but also flexible, enabling students to combine study with work and other commitments. 

Thanks to our in-house learning technologists, we are able to use a range of teaching techniques including recorded lectures, live webinars, interactive quizzes and content pages and more to provide an engaging learning experience which still allows students to interact with their fellow online students. Our programmes are taught by highly experienced international researchers and tutors with a passion for online teaching.

Our graduates go on to a range of careers with healthcare, the pharmaceutical industry, NGOs, and healthcare consulting, having developed both a sound theoretical knowledge and highly practical applied skills which are highly valued by employers. 

If you'd like to learn more about studying online with ScHARR, sign up for one of our upcoming webinars- the next is on 14th July, 12pm UK time.

Sign up at:  https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd9kE_qgotT7VktXT9ySTITNSOsKrGoq6N1HvgnOX-rm1Bllg/viewform

Join our Massive Online Open Course on Measuring and Valuing Health - starting 9th March

ScHARR is running our popular free online course Measuring and Valuing Health on the 9th of March

https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/valuing-health/10

Learn how Patient Reported Outcome Measures and Quality Adjusted Life Years can compare treatments and inform healthcare spending.

How do we decide which drugs and treatments to fund?

Healthcare systems around the world are increasingly under pressure to fund drugs, treatments and other healthcare interventions.

On this course, you’ll learn how health outcome measures can help us to make more informed decisions about where to spend our limited healthcare budgets.

You can continue to learn about healthcare decision-making with our next course Health Technology Assessment (HTA): Choosing Which Treatments Get Funded.

What topics will we cover?

The course focuses on two different types of measures, asking how they’re developed and calculated, and how they’re used by decision makers in practice:

Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs): which are measures completed by the patients themselves, about their health, symptoms, functioning, well-being or satisfaction with treatment.

Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALYs): which compare the benefits of different treatment options, based on the quality and quantity of life they yield.

Who is the course for?

This course will help you understand how and why choices about drugs and treatments have been made. It may inspire you to think about a career in healthcare, local decision making or academia.

You may even wish to take your learning further, with the University of Sheffield’s Masters degrees and short courses in areas such as health economics, public health and international healthcare technology assessment.

You can find out more about this subject in Dr Katherine Stevens’ post for the FutureLearn blog: “How do we make decisions in healthcare about which drugs and treatments to fund?”

Short Course - ScHARR Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis 3 day course: Tuesday, 28th - Thursday, 30th April 2020

Overview: The aim of this three day course is to provide participants with an introduction to methods for conducting systematic reviews and meta-analysis in health care. Sessions will be delivered by ScHARR staff experienced in systematic review methods and health technology assessment. The course will be interactive and practical, with delivery of sessions based on lectures and individual and small group practical exercises.

By the end of this course participants should be able to:

• Identify the key stages of the systematic review process

• Define a review question and understand how to develop a review protocol

• Describe methods for identifying sources of evidence for systematic reviews

• Develop a search strategy to identify relevant studies for a specific review question and understand how to conduct a literature search

• Apply inclusion criteria to identify relevant studies

• Undertake critical appraisal of evidence using standardised quality checklists

• Develop a data extraction form and extract relevant outcomes from reported studies

• Select appropriate methods of evidence synthesis and be able to describe and summarise key results

• Be familiar with statistical methods for analysis of quantitative data

• Explore the use of meta-analysis in data synthesis using computer software

• Understand potential sources of heterogeneity between included studies

• Be familiar with good practice in reporting of systematic reviews

• Critically appraise a systematic review

Venue

Halifax Hall Hotel and Conference Centre.

Endcliffe Vale Rd, Sheffield, S10 3ER.

Tel:  +44 (0)114 222 8810

http://www.halifaxhall.co.uk/

Times

Day 2 - 9am - 5pm
Day 3 - 9am - 3pm

Fees

Day 1 - 9am - 5.30pm followed buy a course evening dinner at approximately 7pm (there is no addtional cost to attend)

£999 - Early Bird Rate for confirmed bookings received on or before 11pm on Friday, 28th February 2020.

£1099 - Standard Rate for confirmed bookings received on or before 11pm on Tuesday, 14th April 2020 or when the course reaches full capacity, whichever is soonest.

Early bird booking for this course will close 28th February 2020

Standard booking will close 14th April 2020

Link to further course information:https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/scharr/shortcourseunit/systematic_reviews_and_metaanalysis

Link to our Online Store, where all of our ScHARR short course bookings are initially processed:

http://onlineshop.shef.ac.uk/conferences-events/faculty-of-medicine-dentistry-and-health/school-of-health-and-related-research-scharr

Join us for our Online Open Days - International Health Technology Assessment, Pricing and Reimbursement (online) (MSc / Diploma / Certificate) and PG Cert in Cost Effective Modelling (online)

We are running our latest Online Open Days for our courses International Health Technology Assessment, Pricing and Reimbursement (online) (MSc / Diploma / Certificate) and PG Cert in Cost Effective Modelling (online). Please join us and  sign up for our next online open days (which are actually just an hour!) on 8th April 12pm to 1pm UK Time. You can sign up here

You can hear more about the HEDM course in this video with Professor Alan Brennan.

HEDS 2 Day Course - Utility Data for Health Technology Assessment

Utility Data for Health Technology Assessment

2 day course:  Monday, 11th - Tuesday, 12th March 2019

Background

NICE and similar agencies around the world are using QALYs, hence the need for health state utility data in their assessments of the cost effectiveness of health care interventions. This raises questions about the measurement of health, the valuation of health and whose values to use. It creates additional challenges for meeting the requirements of a ‘reference case’ set of methods that may not be appropriate in all circumstances.

What does the course deliver?

This course outlines the practical requirements of measuring utility and obtaining utility data for health technology assessment for agencies such as NICE and explores recent research in utilities including EQ-5D-5L valuation, measuring subjective well-being and condition specific preference-based measures.  It is delivered by a world leading team of experts in utility measurement.

Who will benefit from this course?

This course is for academics, government agencies, pharmacoeconomics and outcomes experts in industry and consultancies with an interest in the use of health state utility data. Basic prior knowledge of Patient Reported Outcomes, QALY's and health technology assessment is required.  For delegates without this prior knowledge (or who would like a re-cap), a free on-line introductory course will be provided prior to starting this course, which will take approximately 6-9 hours.

Book here

Course Location - Halifax Hall

Course content

• What are the key issues in obtaining health state utility values?
• Does it matter which instruments are used?
• What is the current NICE reference case and requirements in other jurisdictions?
• When are EQ-5D and other generic measures not appropriate?
• What utility instruments are available for children?
• What are the latest development in EQ-5D including EQ-5D-5L valuation?
• What should be done when EQ-5D and other generics are not appropriate or not available?
• How can mapping be used to estimate utility values from disease specific measures?
• Social value QALY weights
• How do you search for utility values and what is the role of systematic reviews and meta-analysis of utility values?
• How should utility values be incorporated into cost effectiveness models?
• What is the role for wellbeing within HTA?
• The development of condition specific measures (including the ReQol for mental health).

The course will consist of a mixture of presentations, group work, discussions and individual exercises.

Delegates are asked to provide their own laptop for the duration of the course.

Course Materials

A copy of the book 'Measuring and Valuing Health Benefits for Economic Evaluation' by Brazier, Ratcliffe, Salomon and Tsuchiya, is included in the course fee.

Course Materials will be provided via a Delegate Course Website approximately 2 weeks prior to the course start date. Hard copies of exercises will be provided throughout the course. Hard copies of powerpoint presentations will not be provided, but these can be printed by delegates before the start of the course via the Delegate Course Website.

Course Faculty

Professor John Brazier

Dr Tessa Peasgood is the Course Leader for this 2 day short course

Dr Donna Rowen

Dr Mónica Hernández Alava

Angie Rees

Roberta Ara

Measuring and Valuing Health MOOC from HEDS

The Measuring and Valuing Health MOOC developed by HEDS is currently running on the FutureLearn website. The course runs for three weeks and takes three hours per week to study. Learn how Patient Reported Outcome Measures and Quality Adjusted Life Years can compare treatments and inform healthcare spending. Healthcare systems around the world are increasingly under pressure to fund drugs, treatments and other healthcare interventions.

On this course, you’ll learn how health outcome measures can help us to make more informed decisions about where to spend our limited healthcare budgets.

You can continue to learn about healthcare decision-making with our next course Health Technology Assessment (HTA): Choosing Which Treatments Get Funded.

Future Learn 

What topics will you cover?

The course focuses on two different types of measures, asking how they’re developed and calculated, and how they’re used by decision makers in practice:

Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs): which are measures completed by the patients themselves, about their health, symptoms, functioning, well-being or satisfaction with treatment.

Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALYs): which compare the benefits of different treatment options, based on the quality and quantity of life they yield.

Who is the course for?

This course will help you understand how and why choices about drugs and treatments have been made. It may inspire you to think about a career in healthcare, local decision making or academia.

You may even wish to take your learning further, with the University of Sheffield’s Masters degrees and short courses in areas such as health economics, public health and international healthcare technology assessment.

You can find out more about this subject in Dr Katherine Stevens’ post for the FutureLearn blog: “How do we make decisions in healthcare about which drugs and treatments to fund?”

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you'll be able to...

• Discuss what health means and how to measure its impact on quality of life.
• Evaluate how to develop and use patient reported outcome measures including their limitations in decision-making.
• Calculate QALYs in simple examples to arrive at values which can be used to compare treatment benefits.
• Perform a time trade off to develop an understanding of how this method can be used to value health states and generate preference weights.
• Debate who should value our health. Should it be patients, health professionals or the general public and should this be different for children’s health?
• Compare where QALYs are used in healthcare decision-making worldwide and discuss the merits of this method compared to those used where you live.

Dr Matt Franklin announced as our new Director of our Masters in Health Economics and Decision Modelling (HEDM)

Dr Matt Franklin

Dr Matt Franklin has taken over as Director of our Masters in Health Economics and Decision Modelling (HEDM).

The MSc in Health Economics and Decision Modelling (HEDM) is one of a suite of 3 MSc's that the University of Sheffield offer in the field of health economics, decision modelling and health technology assessment (HTA), the others being the on-line MSc in International Health Technology Assessment, Pricing and Reimbursement and the more econometrics-focused MSc in Economics and Health Economics. 

Dr Franklin said: "I am delighted to take over from Dr John Stevens as Director of the HEDM Masters course from the 1st July 2018. John has done an excellent job in the role over the last 3 years and I hope to maintain his high and impressive standards as I take over the role. As an alumni of the Economic and Health Economics (E&HE) Masters course (Director then and now being Prof Aki Tsuchiya - someone who has influenced my career as a health economist more than I think she knows), which I completed almost 10 years ago."

"I remember my time as a Masters student at the University of Sheffield and I hope to use this experience to my advantage. I will be looking to apply my 10 years of health economic experience in an alumni, research, and teaching capacity to the Director of HEDM role. If I can serve the staff and students associated with the HEDM course as well as those associated with the E&HE course served me as a student 10 years ago, this is the best for which I could hope."

HEDS Two Day Course - Utility Data for Health Technology Assessment

HEDS are running a two day course on Utility Data for Health Technology Assessment

Monday 12th - Tuesday 13th March 2018

BackgroundNICE and similar agencies around the world are using QALYs, hence the need for health state utility data in their assessments of the cost effectiveness of health care interventions. This raises questions about the measurement of health, the valuation of health and whose values to use. It creates additional challenges for meeting the requirements of a ‘reference case’ set of methods that may not be appropriate in all circumstances.

What does the course deliver?This course outlines the practical requirements of measuring utility and obtaining utility data for health technology assessment for agencies such as NICE and explores recent research in utilities including EQ-5D-5L valuation, measuring subjective well-being and condition specific preference-based measures.  It is delivered by a world leading team of experts in utility measurement.

Halifax Hall

Course content

• What are the key issues in obtaining health state utility values?

• Does it matter which instruments are used?

• What is the current NICE reference case and requirements in other jurisdictions?

• When are EQ-5D and other generic measures not appropriate?

• What utility instruments are available for children?

• What are the latest development in EQ-5D including EQ-5D-5L valuation?

• What should be done when EQ-5D and other generics are not appropriate or not available?

• How can mapping be used to estimate utility values from disease specific measures?

• Social value QALY weights

• How do you search for utility values and what is the role of systematic reviews and meta-analysis of utility values?

• How should utility values be incorporated into cost effectiveness models?

• What is the role for wellbeing within HTA?

• The development of condition specific measures (including the ReQol for mental health).

Link to further information:https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/scharr/shortcourseunit/health_utilities_2018

Course Faculty

Professor John Brazier

Dr Tessa Peasgood is the Course Leader for this 2 day short course

Dr Donna Rowen

Dr Mónica Hernández Alava

Angie Rees

Roberta Ara

Short Course - How to Quickly Synthesise Research

Information Resources Group (part of our HEDS Group) are once again running our "Instant Evidence Based Medicine" course.

"How to quickly synthesise research" will take place in Sheffield on Tuesday 13th February 2018.

This course will introduce participants to the concept of research synthesis and explore simple ways to rapidly bring evidence together to inform decision making. During the day we will undertake a search for high quality evidence to answer a clinical question. We will then look at ways of identifying the findings/key themes from the research and present various methods/tools to quickly bring the results together to form a useful overview of the evidence quickly and effectively.

Location: Halifax Hall

If you are new to research synthesis or need to expand your skill set to include rapid synthesis then this course will be ideal. It will offer an introduction to synthesis for those who do not need to undertake full scale systematic reviews, but would like to be able to bring research findings together simply and quickly to form a clear picture.

https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/scharr/shortcourseunit/synthesise-research

Link to book via our Online Store:
http://onlineshop.shef.ac.uk/conferences-events/faculty-of-medicine-dentistry-and-health/school-of-health-and-related-research-scharr

If you require further information, please do not hesitate to contact the ScHARR Short Course Unit at scharr-scu@sheffield.ac.uk

The Identification and Review of Evidence to Inform Cost Effectiveness Models

HEDS are running a one day course, The Identification and Review of Evidence to Inform Cost Effectiveness Models on Tuesday 6th February 2018

Course information
https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/scharr/shortcourseunit/cost_effectiveness_models2018

Course Overview

The course will enable participants to develop an understanding of the methods available for the identification and review of evidence to inform cost effectiveness models. The course will consist of three sessions:
1. Practical conceptual modelling methods
2. Identification of evidence to inform models
3. Reviewing of evidence to inform models

Halifax Hall

During the sessions there will be presentations to illustrate the main issues, structured small group discussions working through a set of related questions and practical exercises. The course will be delivered by researchers experienced in health technology assessment in the UK including a cost-effectiveness modeller, information specialist and systematic reviewer.