Journal of evaluation in clinical practice
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Guideline development requires considerable time and financial resources. New technical devices such as software for online conferences may help to reduce time and financial efforts of guidelines development. The present survey may serve as an explorative pilot for a future study to determine the technical feasibility, acceptability and possible weaknesses of online consensus conferences for clinical guidelines development. ⋯ The data from the online survey indicate that online consensus conferences may be an appropriate alternative to traditional face-to-face consensus conferences, especially within the frame of international guidelines that would require high travel costs and time. Further research is necessary to confirm the data from this explorative pilot study.
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The objective was to compare the extent of pain interference and pain medication among persons who were classified as obese [body mass index (BMI)≥ 30 kg m(-2) ] and normal weighted (BMI ≤ 25 kg m(-2) ), before a hip or knee replacement surgery. ⋯ Obese patients suffer more significantly of unrelieved chronic pain, which lowers considerably their quality of life. Pain relief is more difficult to obtain, as it requires stronger pain medication and NSAIDs.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Waiting list randomized controlled trial within a case-finding design: methodological considerations.
Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are widely used in health care research to provide high-quality evidence of effectiveness of an intervention. However, sometimes a study does not require an RCT in order to answer its primary objective; a case-finding design may be more appropriate. The aim of this paper was to introduce a new study design that nests a waiting list RCT within a case-finding study. ⋯ The design addresses patient preference issues and recruitment issues that can arise in other trial designs. Potential limitations include differential attrition between study groups and potential demoralization for the 'intervention later' group. The 'waiting list case-finding trial' design is a valuable method that could be applied to case-finding studies; the design enables the case-finding component of a study to be maintained while simultaneously exploring additional hypotheses through conducting a trial.