RICHARD DOLL SEMINAR: Trial Forge, PRECIS-2 and how to design an efficient trial

Shaun Treweek

Chair in Health Services Research

University of Aberdeen

Trials are important; very often they are also inefficient.  Trial Forge (http://trialforge.org) aims to improve trial efficiency by identifying and then filling gaps in trial methods research.  Coordination and collaboration are key: letting a thousand flowers bloom is all very well but it does mean that evidence to support trial decisions is patchy and accumulates very slowly. 

Shaun and other Trial Forge collaborators have some ideas about how we can improve the efficiency of trials.  One example is PRECIS-2 (http://www.bmj.com/content/350/bmj.h2147), which is a tool that can help to match your design decisions to the needs of those you intend to use the results of your trial.  This helps to avoid an important source of inefficiency: designing and running an irrelevant trial.  In addition to discussing Trial Forge, the talk will suggest ways in which you can contribute to it. 

Directions

Flyer (in PDF)