Research literacy and the Scholar role

It is your first consultant ward round as a new Basic Training year 2. Your FRANZCOG training supervisor asks the team: a 34-week primip with chronic hypertension is started on labetalol, and you want to add low-dose aspirin because the ISSHP hypertension statement recommends it — show me the evidence. You open your laptop and face three doors: a 2017 NEJM trial that says yes, a 2020 secondary prevention follow-up that is less convincing, and a 2018 Cochrane overview that lives somewhere between. Which paper do you cite first, and what do you say to the patient? This topic is the map for the doors that have no protocol sheet on the wall. [1]

Overview and definition [1]

The FRANZCOG Curriculum, 4th Edition (v4.8 April 2026) names eight CanMEDS-derived RANZCOG Roles[1]; the Scholar is the seventh. The Scholar role requires the trainee to engage in lifelong learning, to critically appraise evidence, to teach and supervise, and to contribute to research and scholarly activity — with the College prescribing a points-based research requirement that is met, in part, by a peer-reviewed publication or College-approved equivalent by the start of Advanced Training.[1]

The operational frame is evidence-based medicine — the integration of best current research evidence with clinical expertise and patient values[1][2] (Sackett 1996). EBM is not "what the latest paper said." It is a discipline: a five-step process (ask, acquire, appraise, apply, assess) that the FRANZCOG examiner expects you to be able to walk through at the bedside, in the SAQ, and at the 12-station oral.

You will meet Scholar content in five settings[1] in the exam and in practice:

• The 100-SBA MCQ paper — every diet has biostatistics and critical-appraisal stems; expect one in five questions to test this material.
• The SAQ paper — explicit "critically appraise this abstract" or "design a study to answer this question" sub-parts.
• The 12-station oral — Scholar material may appear as a structured viva on a paper the candidate has just been given 4 minutes to read; the viva often blends Scholar and clinical-knowledge scoring domains.
• In-theatre teaching — presenting a journal club, designing a unit protocol, defending a guideline deviation, or chairing an MDT meeting.
• The Advanced Training research requirement — the FRANZCOG Handbook v9.2 (July 2026) sets out the points-based system that maps directly onto the Scholar competencies.[1]

References11Show ledgerHide ledger

1. [1]Ioannidis JPA Why most published research findings are false PLoS Med, 2005.PMID 16060722
2. [2]Page MJ, McKenzie JE, Bossuyt PM, et al. The PRISMA 2020 statement: an updated guideline for reporting systematic reviews BMJ, 2021.PMID 33789819
3. [3]Sterne JAC, Savović J, Page MJ, et al. RoB 2: a revised tool for assessing risk of bias in randomised trials BMJ, 2019.PMID 31462531
4. [4]Sterne JA, Hernán MA, Reeves BC, et al. ROBINS-I: a tool for assessing risk of bias in non-randomised studies of interventions BMJ, 2016.PMID 27733354
5. [5]Shea BJ, Reeves BC, Wells G, et al. AMSTAR 2: a critical appraisal tool for systematic reviews that include randomised or non-randomised studies of healthcare interventions BMJ, 2017.PMID 28935701
6. [6]Guyatt GH, Oxman AD, Vist GE, et al. (GRADE Working Group) GRADE: an emerging consensus on rating quality of evidence and strength of recommendations BMJ, 2008.PMID 18436948
7. [7]Schulz KF, Altman DG, Moher D (CONSORT Group) CONSORT 2010 statement: updated guidelines for reporting parallel group randomised trials BMJ, 2010.PMID 20332509
8. [8]WOMAN Trial Collaborators Effect of early tranexamic acid administration on mortality, hysterectomy, and other morbidities in women with post-partum haemorrhage (WOMAN): an international, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial Lancet, 2017.PMID 28456509
9. [9]Rolnik DL, Wright D, Poon LC, et al. Aspirin versus Placebo in Pregnancies at High Risk for Preterm Preeclampsia (ASPRE) N Engl J Med, 2017.PMID 28657417
10. [10]Grobman WA, Rice MM, Reddy UM, et al. Labor Induction versus Expectant Management in Low-Risk Nulliparous Women (ARRIVE) N Engl J Med, 2018.PMID 30089070
11. [11]Blackwell SC, Gyamfi-Bannerman C, Biggio JR Jr, et al. (PROLONG Study Investigators) 17-OHPC to Prevent Recurrent Preterm Birth in Singleton Gestations (PROLONG) Am J Perinatol, 2020.PMID 31652479