The NHS Research Methodology Programme recently issued a call for tenders
with the following titles (it has been advertised in the Guardian, BMJ and
elsewhere, but I thought it might be of interest to some members of this
list who may not have heard about it yet):
1) Methods for identifying and classifying surgical wound infection after
discharge from hospital
2) Comparative Study Of Different Methods To Assess Quality Of Care/ Safety
3) Contamination In Trials Of Educational Interventions - Measurement Of
Degree Of Contamination & Novel Designs To Overcome It
4) Comparison Of The Results Of RCTs With Other Study Designs
The closing date for applications to all the above projects is 12pm Friday
3rd October 2003.
Some more details are given below. More detailed information and
application forms can be obtained from the NCCRM website:
http://www.publichealth.bham.ac.uk/nccrm
or from Tarjinder Gill, at:
NCCRM
The Department of Public Health & Epidemiology
University of Birmingham, Edgbaston
Birmingham B15 2TT
UK
Phone: 0121 414 4454
Tarjinder Gill <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
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Invitations to Tender
The NHS Research Methodology Programme invites proposals on the following
projects.
1) Methods for identifying and classifying surgical wound infection after
discharge from hospital
This call is to review critically existing evidence and ongoing work on
methods for identifying and classifying surgical wound infection after
discharge from hospital, and extend knowledge of this area through research
to compare and 'validate' (or otherwise) alternative promising methods
identified.
Money/Timescale: Up to £150,000 - work should be completed within 18 months.
2) Comparative Study Of Different Methods To Assess Quality Of Care/ Safety
Following discussions with many parts of the NHS, but particularly the
Commission for Health Improvement, the Programme wishes to invite proposals
for a preliminary methodological study of the strengths and weaknesses of
different methods to measure the quality of clinical care/error rates. This
will provide the methods for future studies of the relationship between
clinical quality/safety, and how this affects measured outcomes on the one
hand and how it is attended by organisational structures and processes on
the other. It will also provide methods to compare different managerial
innovations aimed at improving clinical quality/safety, especially where
outcomes/adverse events are insensitive measures of quality.
Money/Timescale: £400,000 - work should be completed within 2 years.
3) Contamination In Trials Of Educational Interventions - Measurement Of
Degree Of Contamination & Novel Designs To Overcome It
Cluster randomisation is a method sometimes used to limit the possibility of
'contamination' - where at least some of the information provided in one arm
of an educational trial is transmitted in informal pathways to participants
in the other arm. The occurrence of contamination could have serious effects
on outcomes (which will often be behavioural), reducing the apparent effect
of the interventions. By physically separating participants in different
trial arms, cluster-randomised educational trials are less susceptible to
contamination. However, the use of cluster-randomised design is not without
problems, as trials of this type can be prone to selection bias and be very
costly. There is a school of thought which postulates that contamination is
an over-rated problem, therefore research is needed first into how
contamination may be measured, and second, to develop methods which predict
contamination levels, given intervention and study characteristics, and at
what level contamination is unacceptable. A mixture of primary or secondary
research approaches will be considered.
Money/Timescale: Up to £100,000 - work should be completed within 14 months.
4) Comparison Of The Results Of RCTs With Other Study Designs
The Programme is issuing this call for proposals to bring together and
analyse data which will shed light on differences in findings (effect sizes)
between randomised studies and other study designs for assessing the effects
of policy interventions. Three organisations which house large collections
of studies have agreed to collaborate with the appointed research team.
Money/Timescale: Up to £120,000 - work should be completed within 1 year.
Follow up studies may be funded.
How to apply
The closing date for applications to all the above projects is 12pm Friday
3rd October 2003.
Application for all projects is via our standard application form. Also,
please read the Guidance Notes and Evaluation Criteria for further
information on filling in the form. These documents can be downloaded from
our website:
Further enquiries
For scientific/project enquiries, please contact either the Programme
Director, Professor Richard Lilford <mailto:[log in to unmask]> (Phone:
0121 414 2226), or Senior Research Fellow, Mr David Braunholtz
<mailto:[log in to unmask]> (Phone: 0121 414 7495).
For enquiries relating to the application process, or problems with the
downloaded documents, please contact either the Programme Manager, Ms Judith
Harris <mailto:[log in to unmask]> (0121 414 7833) or Tarjinder Gill
<mailto:[log in to unmask]> (Phone: 0121 414 4454).
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David Braunholtz
National Co-ordinating Centre for Research Methodology
Department of Public Health & Epidemiology
Public Health Building
University of Birmingham
Birmingham B15 2TT
E-Mail: [log in to unmask]
Tel: 0121-414-7495
FAX: 0121-414-7878
http://www.publichealth.bham.ac.uk/nccrm/
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