The first ever Orthopaedic Surgical Trials Day was held at the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) this March. The objective of the day was to bring together the orthopaedic surgical research community to present current trials, intended projects and discuss issues that affect surgical trial research in this area.
The workshop was attended by both experienced and novice clinical researchers, surgeons, research nurses and the odd Channel 4 newsreader! Jon Snow gave a talk about the role media can play in promoting clinical research.
NDORMS were well represented at the event, with Head of department Professor Andrew Carr presenting on “Challenges with surgical trials” and Professor David Beard speaking about the 'Can Shoulder Arthroscopy Work?' study (CSAW); Professor Beard also highlighted other studies from the NDORMS Surgical Intervention Trials Unit (SITU) portfolio. Naomi Merritt and Cushla Cooper, from the CSAW study hosted a breakout session in collaboration with colleagues from the University of Bristol; their session focused on the perils of recruiting patients to studies and they presented work from the Qualitative Recruitment Investigation that was included in the CSAW study.
The event showed how far we have come in the world of surgical research and it was very rewarding for the SITU team to see how the increasing portfolio of orthopaedic and plastics trials in the its portfolio (UKUFF, TOPKAT, CSAW, NINJA) has helped shape current orthopaedic surgical trials research. The day also provided an excellent opportunity for the Oxford group to share their knowledge and experience with the wider orthopaedic community and the team are very much looking forward to sponsoring more of these events and, along with a strong partnership with the British Orthopaedic Association unit at York, help move orthopaedic research into the future.
The RCS day was supplemented by a Trauma and Orthopaedics trials day and Trauma Society special interest day hosted by Professor Matt Costa in Warwick. Again, Oxford had good representation with David Beard speaking on behalf of SITU.
The day was sponsored jointly by the RCS, the Oxford Surgical Intervention Trials Unit at NDORMS and the British Orthopaedic Association Orthopaedic Surgery Research Centre (York Trials Unit).
If you have any comments on the day or would like to find out more, please contact Cushla Cooper, SITU Portfolio Manager (Orthopaedics & Plastics).