Participants at our previous workshops have come from a wide range of backgrounds in social and health-related professions. They have included consultants, general practitioners, nurses, pharmacists, clinical and non-clinical researchers, purchasers, managers, and professionals supplementary to medicine. The workshops are designed to meet the needs of participants with varying amounts of previous knowledge and experience (including none) of conducting critical appraisal.

Workshops can be organised as half day sessions or may run for a full day, comprising two linked sessions with a one-hour lunch break.

The general aim of our workshops is to enable participants to:

• Identify the strengths and weaknesses of different types of published research
• Use evidence from published research to support decision-making and/or practice
• Understand different methodologies and technical terms
• Acquire confidence and efficiency in appraising and using evidence