Contribution of Malaysians to the Colloquium

Evidence-Based Healthcare Day 2023

 

The first post-pandemic colloquium took place in London from September 3-6, 2023.

It was attended by over 1000 people from 56 countries. Among these were 5 from Malaysia. Among these 5 was Ms Sonia Nde, a medical student from RUMC who participated in a poster presentation.                                                            
Sonia had never attended an international scientific meeting before. She said, ‘‘It helped me realise how many more career avenues I have in the future besides clinical medicine. I attended the student event. I realise now how much bias colours the evidence we have. We should question what we do in our clinical work. Does the science behind it meet up to scrutiny. Evidence-based medicine is a lot more than what we get as an undergraduate. We learned more about appraisal of papers and the assessing of the certainty of the evidence. We also learnt to question whether we should use the systematic reviews that we see and decide whether we should apply them in the clinical setting. Before the colloquium I was one of those people who judged the results of a research paper in terms of significance, i.e. as either significant or non-significant and didn’t realise the nuances of certainty of evidence.

I am really thankful for the opportunity to attend the colloquium. The best thing was the student session, but I also enjoyed manning out poster. I met some really interesting people.

             Sonia

Prof Lai Nai Ming from Taylors University another of the 5 Malaysians, has attended a number of Colloquia before. This is what he says about the value of attending: ‘’The Cochrane Colloquium is a gathering of all who aim to contribute to synthesising, disseminating and championing the highest level of human health evidence. The colloquium is not only for established authors of Cochrane reviews, but for new authors as well as those who wish to keep abreast of the skills and views in evidence synthesis from the leaders of the field and build a lasting personal connection from this wonderful collaboration. The colloquium is for all people, from evidence shapers such as authors, methods experts and policy makers, to evidence users such as practitioners and the public.

The most precious experience for me from attending the colloquium is the appreciation of the genuine goodwill of so many who truly wish to improve human health by their selfless contribution to this noble cause.

                                                                                  Prof Lai Nai Ming

https://malaysia.cochrane.org/sites/malaysia.cochrane.org/files/uploads/RUMC_Cochrane_Flyer_Workshops_2023%20(2).pdfhttps://malaysia.cochrane.org/sites/malaysia.cochrane.org/files/uploads/RUMC_Cochrane_Flyer_Workshops_2023%20(2).pdf

Datuk Dr Nor Asiah from the National Institutes of Health has also been to previous Colloquia. She presented two posters. As a researcher and trainer, she finds that Colloquia certainly help keep her up to date on systematic review methods but also the poster sessions serve to build networks of people in similar roles and thus are another learning opportunity.

https://malaysia.cochrane.org/sites/malaysia.cochrane.org/files/uploads/RUMC_Cochrane_Flyer_Workshops_2023%20(2).pdf

Cochrane Malaysia was represented by Prof Jacqueline Ho, Co-Director (picture on the right). She has also attended previous Colloquia. This  time she was on  two of the Colloquium organising committees and  was author or co-author on two of the Malaysian posters. She said,  'I love the way Cochrane values equity in their work. They started off  as a Eurocentric organisation but have made a huge effort to ensure  that it is a global organisation.'

 

The other Malaysian participant was Prof Prashanti Eachempati  https://malaysia.cochrane.org/sites/malaysia.cochrane.org/files/uploads/RUMC_Cochrane_Flyer_Workshops_2023%20(2).pdf(on the right as shown in the picture) from Manipal University College Malaysia (MUCM). Her work on priority setting in oral health resulted in her being on the faculty of two workshops as well as presenting a poster. 

 

 

 

Read an article about this on the RCSI & UCD website
 

Malaysian Posters Presented at the Colloquium

With links to abstracts

Poster TitleAuthorsAffiliations

Using a systematic review to develop a taxonomy of uncertainties in health care to structure the design of future participatory research

Read the abstract here

Prashanti Eachempati1,2, Mona Nasser2

 

 

 

1Manipal University College Melaka, Malaysia, 2University of Plymouth

 

Malaysian experience of training journalists in understanding research evidence: A Cochrane Geographic Groups Consumer Engagement and Involvement Challenge Fund project

Read the abstract here

Tan ML1,2, Ho JJ1,2, Loh FF3, Nde S1

 

 

 

1RCSI & UCD Malaysia Campus, Malaysia

2Cochrane Malaysia
3Freelance health journalist, Malaysia

Engaging volunteer translators: the Malaysian experience

Read the abstract here

Ho J1,2, Tan ML1,2, Sasongko TH3, Pillai NP2

 

1RCSI & UCD Malaysia Campus, Malaysia
2Cochrane Malaysia, 3International Medical University, Malaysia

Setting up National Health Research Priorities in Malaysia through evidence gap maps

Read the abstract here

Muhamad NA1, Leman FN1, Too CL1, Ma'amor NH1, Johari MZ1, Mohd Dali NS1, Abu Hassan MR2, Lai NM3

 

 

 

1National Institution of Health, Ministry of Health, Malaysia

2Office of Deputy Director General (Research & Technical Support), Ministry of Health, Malaysia
3School of Medicine, Taylor's University, Subang Jaya, Malaysia

Training for awareness on using Cochrane Library in Ministry of Health, Malaysia

 

Read the abstract here

Muhamad NA1, Ma'amor NH1, Leman FN1, Rosli IA1, Syed Ahmad Yunus SZ2, Abu Hassan MR3

 

 

 

1Sector for Evidence-based Healthcare, National Institutes of Health, Ministry of Health, Malaysia
2Office of NIH Manager. National Institutes of Health, Ministry of Health, Malaysia
3Office of Deputy Director General (Research and Technical Support), Ministry of Health, Malaysia