BMJ 1998;317:1236-1239 ( 31 October )

Education and debate

Efficient management of randomised controlled trials: nature or nurture

Barbara Farrell, trial manager. 

Institute of Health Sciences, Oxford OX3 7LF

Barbara.Farrell@ndm.ox.ac.uk

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

A randomised controlled trial sets out to do just one thingto discover the truth. Pick up any medical journal, and you can read about the need for a good randomised clinical trial to answer a burning clinical question. A trial that will inform, enhance, and, when applicable, change clinical practice. Experienced research committees prioritise the clinical questions that need answering to ensure the health of the nation. They also set guidelines on what constitutes good clinical practice within a research context.¹ Furthermore, the scientific and clinical communities ensure that good scientific modelling is central to trial methodology. How a trial actually happens and how the conclusions that affect clinical practice are arrived at are often less prescribed.

Little is written about the day to day and strategic management of such trials. There are no clearly defined operational models established or any code of practice for managing a randomised controlled . . . [Full text of this article]

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Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Day-to-day management of clinical trials

Maxine Stead
bmj.com, 10 Nov 1998 [Full text]

Paper is always a problem

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bmj.com, 11 Dec 1998 [Full text]

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