Superego Cafe ran its first event in the Middle East today. Many senior clinicians gathered at the fabulous Jumeirah Beach Hotel in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates for the one day critical appraisal course. As expected the conference centre looked after our delegates very well, with valet parking, comfortable surroundings and delicious food, which allowed everyone to focus on understanding evidence-based medicine. The feedback from the delegates was excellent and confirmed the status of Superego Cafe as a leading provider of critical appraisal training. The event was reported by the Gulf newspaper and the Emirates News Agency.

The second edition of The Doctor's Guide to Critical Appraisal has been published and is now available! Under the familiar front cover which now features a fusion of red and purple lines, the new edition updates the original bestselling 2006 edition which was reprinted twice in 2008 and 2009. The book teaches critical appraisal from first principles and assumes no prior knowledge. Concepts are illustrated using scenarios, examples, diagrams and tables. The second edition is included in the delegate pack in our classroom courses!

Today we are pleased to announce a new date for the critical appraisal course. On Friday 4 December 2009 at the Hilton London Metropole we will be running the one day critical appraisal classroom course.  Delegates booking the course get free access to the online critical appraisal course until 4 January 2010 and a copy of The Doctor's Guide to Critical Appraisal. Reservations are now being accepted.

Today we're launching a limited time offer - subscribe to the online critical appraisal course and get a free copy of "The Doctor's Guide to Critical Appraisal". Published by PasTest in 2006, the book has been reprinted twice, in 2008 and 2009. The book was written by two members of the Superego Cafe team who also authored the online critical appraisal course. The aim of this book is to highlight the fundamental principles of critical appraisal and statistics using a clear, concise and simplified approach. Assuming no prior knowledge, the book guides the reader from basic ideas to advanced concepts using diagrams, case scenarios and questions and answers sections. A perfect companion to the online course! Grab your copy today whilst stocks last!

Today we've added a brand new discussion forum to the Critical Appraisal website, accessible from the link on the main menu. Initially categories have been set up for the online and classroom courses, with boards for pre-sales questions, troubleshooting and feedback comments. If you have any questions or comments, we would like to encourage you to post a message in the forum. We're hoping that over the next few months the forum becomes a useful source of information. You can still contact us using the 'contact' link at the top of every page but over time the forum will provide the answers to the most commonly asked questions.

Greetings from Kuala Lumpur! Earlier today the Superego Cafe team ran a one day critical appraisal course at the Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), one of the most prestigious universities in Malaysia, as part of a two day conference on evidence-based medicine. The meeting organiser discovered the Superego Cafe course on the web. From an initial enquiry about organising a bespoke course, progress was rapid and after a flurry of emails, the programme for the event was finalised and the course was advertised. The conference delegates were members of the Faculty of Pharmacy and Ministry of Health personnel, all eager to improve their critical appraisal skills. A comprehensive review of critical appraisal was delivered and every member of the audience was given access to the online critical appraisal course to help consolidate their learning. Our thanks to everyone at UiTM for organising the event and for their kind hospitality.

Today sees the launch of the brand new criticalappraisal.com website. This is the first major facelift for the website since its launch in 2007. Our old website served us well but was showing its age. We wanted to update the design and reduce the number of mouse clicks required to navigate to information. We've gone for a more contemporary look and employed techniques to show more information on pages. In the most extreme case one page has replaced fourteen pages on the older website. Hopefully you'll find browsing the website a more pleasurable experience. As always, feedback is welcome.