International Clinical Trials Day Poem

On 20^th May, the CTR recognised International Clinical Trials Day with an online event celebrating public involvement in our research. Three members of the public – Margaret Ogden, Jane Leahy and Julie Hepburn – kindly shared their experiences of working with us as Research Partners on three very different studies.

Margaret talked about her involvement in the PEACH study, which is looking at antibiotic use in patients hospitalised with COVID-19. The aim of the study is to understand whether the use of a blood test (PCT test) to guide antibiotic prescribing, safely reduced antibiotic use among these patients during the first wave of the pandemic. This is important to know because antibiotics are sometime over prescribed which can expose patients to more side effects, an increased risk of infection from superbugs and an increase in healthcare costs.

Video replay of the event is available to watch online.

Following her talk at the event, Margaret composed a poem to gather her reflections:

The CTR International Clinical Trials Day
Was a golden opportunity to come my way
To present my reflections on PEACH  patient involvement
It had certainly been an esteemed appointment
I’d learnt about the benefits of the PCT test
On this work there’d be much time to invest
A lot of data to carefully analyse
On attention to detail there’d be no compromise
Researchers were great, there was a lot of support
So impact of PPI could be meaningfully caught.

– Margaret Ogden

The research team are grateful to Margaret for her valuable public perspective on the study. If you are a member of the public and would like to get involved in our research, please contact ctr-hub@cardiff.ac.uk