LEARNING ABOUT CLINICAL-TRIALS - THE WESTERN MULTICENTER, RANDOMIZED,DOUBLE-BLIND, PLACEBO-CONTROLLED CLINICAL-TRIAL ON THE EFFECT OF CAFFEINE ON ALERTNESS AND CARDIOVASCULAR PARAMETERS

With an increased emphasis on evidence-based medicine, teaching epidem iology and biostatistics to medical students is becoming increasingly important. This article discusses the development and implementation o f a procedure for demonstrating the principles of clinical trials to m edical students. A practical group exercise was used instead of tradit ional, lecture-based teaching. The students were both investigators an d subjects in a placebo-controlled, randomized clinical trial involvin g caffeine. This trial is presented and discussed. In general, the stu dents found the exercise to be an effective and enjoyable alternative to a traditional, didactic teaching session. Practical suggestions for educators who may be interested in using this approach in their own L eaching are given.