1 June 2019: Findings of PCTU supported study EPOCH published in The Lancet

The findings of the PCTU supported study EPOCH have now been published in The Lancet. 

The article "Effectiveness of a national quality improvement programme to improve survival after emergency abdominal surgery (EPOCH): a stepped-wedge cluster-randomised trial" can now be read in full. 

EPOCH was a stepped-wedge cluster-randomised trial of patients aged 40 years or older undergoing emergency open major abdominal surgery. The aim of the study was to investigate the effectiveness of a national quality improvement (QI) programme to implement a care pathway to improve survival for these patients. 

You can read the full article published on The Lancet website: "Effectiveness of a national quality improvement programme to improve survival after emergency abdominal surgery (EPOCH): a stepped-wedge cluster-randomised trial"

Download a copy of the article by clicking here. 

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4 October 2018: PCTU webinar

On Wednesday 8 October, the PCTU hosted a HRB-TMN webinar on 'Guidelines for Reporting Embedded Recruitment Trials'. Watch the webinar below, or click here to watch on YouTube.

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23 August 2018: Professor Sandra Eldridge and Alan Gaw in conversation

Professor Eldridge joined Alan Gaw for the NIHR's podcast to discuss the role of pragmatic clinical trials. Listen to the podcast below or click here to listen on the SoundCloud website. 

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3 January 2018: Read about the PCTU supported study STOP in The Pharmaceutical Journal

The Phamaceutical Journal has published an article discussing the PCTU supported study STOP (Smoking treatment optimisation in pharmacies).

The aim of the study is to assess the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the STOP intervention on smoker recruitment, retention and quit rates in the community pharmacy NHS stop smoking programme. The STOP iintervention aims to build advisors’ consultation skills and knowledge about smoking cessation and to help to use these skills in their interactions with clients.  The intervention also provides help and support for counter assistants recruiting smokers into the service.  The aim of the intervention is to increase the numbers of smokers enrolling and staying in the NHS Stop Smoking programme and to increase the proportion who successfully quit.

Read more about the study in The Pharmaceutical Journal here: Smoking cessation: shifting the research focus to community pharmacy

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