General Surgery – FRCS Academic Viva Critical Appraisal Training

Bespoke Workshops

Our critical appraisal training courses are specifically designed to provide high-quality preparation for the critical appraisal sections of specialty examinations. These bespoke courses are fully customised to meet the unique needs and objectives of your group, ensuring an approach that is directly aligned with your clinical focus, training requirements, and experience level.

Course Structure

Each course offers a flexible yet structured curriculum built on the core principles of evidence-based medicine (EBM), with content including:

• Research study design (e.g. RCTs, cohort, case-control, cohort, systematic reviews, meta-analyses)
• Bias, confounding, and sources of error
• Statistical interpretation and clinical significance
• Critical appraisal frameworks (e.g. CONSORT, PRISMA, STROBE)
• Application of evidence to clinical decision-making

Tailored Agenda to Meet Your Needs

What sets our courses apart is the ability to fully tailor each session to the specific needs of your group. We collaborate closely with you to develop an agenda that aligns with your learning goals, whether you're training postgraduate trainees, senior clinicians, academic faculty, or multidisciplinary teams.

Customised Learning Objectives: We work with you to define clear educational goals, ensuring that the content is directly relevant to your group’s current practice and exam syllabus.

Use of Clinical Papers of Your Choice: To enhance relevance and engagement, we select real, peer-reviewed clinical papers or, if preferred, you can provide your own. These papers are chosen to reflect your group’s clinical context and the type of evidence that is most applicable to your specialty.

Practical, Applied Learning: Participants will actively engage with the selected clinical papers, working through them to develop a deeper understanding of critical appraisal techniques, research validity, and evidence application in real-world scenarios.

Delivery and Outcomes

Courses can be delivered in person or online, as intensive one-day workshops or more extended modular programmes. All sessions are facilitated by experienced educators with deep expertise in medical statistics, epidemiology, and exam preparation.

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

• Critically appraise research: Assess primary literature with precision, evaluating the methodology, bias, and statistical robustness.
• Apply EBM principles: Integrate evidence into clinical decision-making, ensuring that research findings are practically applicable in real-world settings.
• Excel in exam settings: Approach critical appraisal exams with confidence, equipped with the skills to analyse and critique clinical evidence effectively.

Workshops & Masterclasses for Medical and Healthcare Professionals

The standard masterclass and workshops will cover the key topics outlined in your critical appraisal syllabus. 

Our one- and two-day intensive workshops are designed to equip medical and healthcare professionals with the skills to critically appraise clinical research and apply evidence-based medicine (EBM) across clinical, academic, and industry settings. Whether you're preparing for specialty exams or working in research, teaching, or commercial roles, these sessions offer a structured, practice-oriented approach to evaluating medical literature with confidence.

What the Workshops Cover

Each course delivers a focused, interactive overview of essential EBM concepts, including study design, sources of bias and confounding, statistical interpretation, and the clinical relevance of research findings. Content is tailored to reflect the critical appraisal competencies expected in postgraduate exams and the real-world use of evidence in healthcare decision-making.

Practical, Applied Learning

Participants gain hands-on experience by working through real, peer-reviewed clinical papers, applying structured appraisal techniques to evaluate methodology, results, and applicability. Sessions include in-depth appraisal of key study designs such as randomised controlled trials (RCTs), cohort studies, case-control studies, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses. This applied, case-based format ensures skills are immediately transferable to clinical and professional contexts.

Who Should Attend?

These workshops are ideal for:

• Postgraduate medical trainees preparing for exams
• PhD students and academic researchers in clinical, biomedical, or health sciences
• Nurses, pharmacists, and allied health professionals involved in evidence-based practice or multidisciplinary research
• Clinical educators, audit leads, and academic faculty engaged in training or quality improvement
• Professionals in medical affairs, clinical development, regulatory affairs, and market access in pharma, biotech, and life sciences

Included With Your Booking

All workshop participants receive complimentary access to our Online Critical Appraisal Course, allowing you to consolidate your learning at your own pace. The online course reinforces key principles and provides additional practice in appraising various study types—ideal for revision, exam preparation, or ongoing professional development.

1:1 intensive exam preparation

This personalised coaching service is designed for individuals who want tailored, focused support in developing their critical appraisal skills—whether for exams, professional development, academic work, or clinical decision-making. Ideal for trainees, early-career academics, or experienced clinicians, this one-to-one format allows for in-depth exploration of concepts at a pace and level suited entirely to you.

Each session is customised to your specific goals. Whether you're preparing for a structured exam (e.g. ISFE, FRCEM, FRCS), tackling appraisal of literature for a dissertation or research project, or simply aiming to feel more confident reading clinical papers, we adjust the content and approach to meet your exact needs. You can choose the papers you'd like to work on, or we can provide relevant examples aligned to your specialty.

Key features include:

• Personalised instruction on understanding study design, statistics, bias, and applicability
• Focused exam-style questions and mock practice tailored to your exam format
• In-depth walkthroughs of published clinical studies of your choice
• Flexible scheduling to fit around clinical or academic commitments
• Support with structuring written critical appraisals or academic assignments

This format is ideal for anyone seeking high-impact, efficient learning with immediate relevance to their professional goals.

Mock Viva Courses

Our Mock Viva Courses are designed to prepare candidates for oral examinations by simulating the high-pressure environment of real viva scenarios. These courses are especially beneficial for those undertaking specialty exams where critical appraisal and clinical management are assessed verbally—such as FRCS, ISFE, FRCEM, and various Royal College final exams.

Each session offers structured, examiner-style questioning across two key domains:

• Critical Appraisal Viva: Candidates are presented with clinical papers in advance or on the day and are guided through in-depth discussion of methodology, validity, statistical interpretation, and clinical relevance. The sessions mimic real exam conditions and provide immediate feedback on both content and communication style.
• Clinical Management Viva: Candidates respond to case-based scenarios that test their ability to apply evidence to patient management, justify decision-making, and prioritise safe and effective care. These discussions often integrate EBM principles, audit, guidelines, and real-world challenges in healthcare delivery.

Key benefits include:

• Realistic exam-style questioning from experienced faculty
• Personalised, constructive feedback on performance and structure
• Opportunities to practise answering under timed, pressured conditions
• Tips on communication, structuring responses, and avoiding common pitfalls
• Optional integration of specialty-specific content and past paper themes

Whether you're aiming to pass a high-stakes exam or simply strengthen your verbal reasoning and confidence under pressure, these courses offer targeted, high-impact preparation tailored to your training level and specialty.