At times New Orleans felt very much like Wales\u2026\u2026 wet. However, when the sun came out and the puddles dried up New Orleans was a place full of culture and friendly faces. The French Quarter is a vibrant place to visit in the day or night. This is full of a whatever type of food you could wish to eat and filled with little market shops and stalls along with their cast iron balconies on the side of buildings. Jazz is certainly the sound of New Orleans with plenty of jazz cafes \/ bars and street performers to be able to give you a taste of New Orleans. From their jazzy soundtrack and tropical climate, this is a destination everyone can enjoy. Which we did!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\u2018Clinical Trials: a catalyst for societal advancement\nthrough innovation\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nThe Society for Clinical\nTrials<\/a> annual meeting ran for three days in May, with a number of\npre-conference and in-conference workshops available. The theme of the meeting\nas \u2018a catalyst\u2019 was intended to unify the diverse professions, disciplines,\norganisations, and areas of health that were brought together to share\nexperiences of designing, conducting and analysing clinical trials, all in the\nname of changing lives through improving health. The programme reflected this\nthrough offering sessions on a wide range of topics on clinical trials conduct\nand methodology, with the aim of developing and disseminating optimal methods\nand best practices in clinical trials around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe Centre for Trials Research delegation<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nSome of the Centre\u2019s work featured in three presentations at\nthe conference. Nigel Kirby presented two studies in his presentation \u2018\u2018First\ndo no harm\u2019 \u2013 exploring the potential impact of placebo treatments on adverse\neffects\u2019. In the \u2018Ethics\u2019 session he presented the findings from a systematic\nreview of nocebo effects reported by participants receiving placebo in clinical\ntrials (paper published in Trials<\/a>)\nand a content analysis of information provided on adverse effects in\nParticipant Information Sheets (paper to be submitted shortly). <\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/499\/2019\/06\/Ethics-session.png\")
Ethics\u2019 session presentations from Nigel Kirby and Victoria Shepherd <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nIn the same session Victoria Shepherd presented a systematic\nreview of the ethical aspects of surrogate decision-making for clinical trials\ninvolving adults who lack capacity to consent (paper published in AJOB\nEmpirical Bioethics<\/a>). She also presented the findings of the DECISION\nStudy<\/a> which explored family members\u2019 experiences of acting as a consultee\nor legal representative on behalf of someone who lacked capacity to consent.<\/p>\n\n\n\nOur highlights from the conference<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nThe programme was extensive, and included sessions on trial\ndesign and management, recruitment and retention, outcomes, statistical\nanalysis, and regulation and consent. Some of our highlights included a\nfascinating workshop on \u2018patient\npreference trial designs<\/a>\u2019 which are designed to include patient choice (e.g\nto be randomised or not, or choice of trial arm), sometimes randomised through two or more\nstages<\/a>. This enables trials to take account of patient preference effects\nas well as treatment effects. <\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/499\/2019\/06\/Patient-preference-session.png\")
Patient preference clinical trial designs <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nData Management and IS systems are popular topics at this conference and the ways that others are collecting and managing data allows for great ideas for what we can look to implement here in the Centre. This includes participant diary data being collected entirely by text message with the text messages linking to other answers that participants have given so they are not having to see unnecessary questions. Another presentation covered how well do we know our sites and what key metrics we can use to monitor them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Centre for Trials Research delegation<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nSome of the Centre\u2019s work featured in three presentations at\nthe conference. Nigel Kirby presented two studies in his presentation \u2018\u2018First\ndo no harm\u2019 \u2013 exploring the potential impact of placebo treatments on adverse\neffects\u2019. In the \u2018Ethics\u2019 session he presented the findings from a systematic\nreview of nocebo effects reported by participants receiving placebo in clinical\ntrials (paper published in Trials<\/a>)\nand a content analysis of information provided on adverse effects in\nParticipant Information Sheets (paper to be submitted shortly). <\/p>\n\n\n\nEthics\u2019 session presentations from Nigel Kirby and Victoria Shepherd <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nIn the same session Victoria Shepherd presented a systematic\nreview of the ethical aspects of surrogate decision-making for clinical trials\ninvolving adults who lack capacity to consent (paper published in AJOB\nEmpirical Bioethics<\/a>). She also presented the findings of the DECISION\nStudy<\/a> which explored family members\u2019 experiences of acting as a consultee\nor legal representative on behalf of someone who lacked capacity to consent.<\/p>\n\n\n\nOur highlights from the conference<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nThe programme was extensive, and included sessions on trial\ndesign and management, recruitment and retention, outcomes, statistical\nanalysis, and regulation and consent. Some of our highlights included a\nfascinating workshop on \u2018patient\npreference trial designs<\/a>\u2019 which are designed to include patient choice (e.g\nto be randomised or not, or choice of trial arm), sometimes randomised through two or more\nstages<\/a>. This enables trials to take account of patient preference effects\nas well as treatment effects. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Patient preference clinical trial designs <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nData Management and IS systems are popular topics at this conference and the ways that others are collecting and managing data allows for great ideas for what we can look to implement here in the Centre. This includes participant diary data being collected entirely by text message with the text messages linking to other answers that participants have given so they are not having to see unnecessary questions. Another presentation covered how well do we know our sites and what key metrics we can use to monitor them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the same session Victoria Shepherd presented a systematic\nreview of the ethical aspects of surrogate decision-making for clinical trials\ninvolving adults who lack capacity to consent (paper published in AJOB\nEmpirical Bioethics<\/a>). She also presented the findings of the DECISION\nStudy<\/a> which explored family members\u2019 experiences of acting as a consultee\nor legal representative on behalf of someone who lacked capacity to consent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The programme was extensive, and included sessions on trial\ndesign and management, recruitment and retention, outcomes, statistical\nanalysis, and regulation and consent. Some of our highlights included a\nfascinating workshop on \u2018patient\npreference trial designs<\/a>\u2019 which are designed to include patient choice (e.g\nto be randomised or not, or choice of trial arm), sometimes randomised through two or more\nstages<\/a>. This enables trials to take account of patient preference effects\nas well as treatment effects. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Data Management and IS systems are popular topics at this conference and the ways that others are collecting and managing data allows for great ideas for what we can look to implement here in the Centre. This includes participant diary data being collected entirely by text message with the text messages linking to other answers that participants have given so they are not having to see unnecessary questions. Another presentation covered how well do we know our sites and what key metrics we can use to monitor them. <\/p>\n\n\n\nOur highlights from the conference<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/centre-for-trials-research\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/499\/2019\/06\/Data-management-NK.jpg\")