Mark Elkins

Mark Elkins PhD, MHSc, BCogSci, BPhty Research Education Consultant | Sydney Local Health District Editor in Chief | Journal of Physiotherapy Mark Elkins is a Clinical Associate Professor in the Faculty of Medicine & Health at The University of Sydney, and the scientific editor of Journal of Physiotherapy. He is also a research mentor to allied health clinicians, doctors and nurses across five hospitals in Sydney. He has published one textbook, 17 book chapters and 206 publications in peer-reviewed journals, which include the New England Journal of Medicine and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews.

Plenary Presentation: Expand your horizons beyond “black or white” to better understand clinical research findings

A practical and interactive discussion to help all Allied Health clinicians interpret research findings in their workplace.

This presentation will help you to expand your horizons beyond the traditional “black or white” approach (I.e. “a p-value less than 0.05 means the treatment works and a p-value greater than 0.05 means the treatment doesn’t work”). Despite having been widely used for decades, the black or white approach is a very limiting (and sometimes downright misleading) way to interpret research findings and guide clinical practice.

The new approach acknowledges that there is uncertainty inherent in clinical research findings. By recognising that uncertainty, we can appreciate what the research has shown (and has not shown!), so that we can derive more appropriate implications for clinical practice and for further research.

Workshop: Learn with the Editor: Cracking the code to manuscript writing

The editor of one of the top journals in allied health will walk you through the overall structure of a research paper, explaining what each of the main sections (Introduction, Method, Results, Discussion) is supposed to achieve. He will then give some tips for writing clear, concise and unambiguous sentences. This is followed by important guidance about tables and figures in research manuscripts. The correct use of templates and checklists will also be reviewed. The session will close with tips for making progress with your writing and resources for helping you choose an appropriate journal. There will be ample opportunity to ask questions, so feel free to bring along specific examples or issues for discussion.