Exploring patient views of developing surgery
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Exploring patient views of developing surgery
IRAS ID
245846
Contact name
Jane Blazeby
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Bristol
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 6 months, 31 days
Research summary
The development of surgical techniques and devices is usually considered an essential part of surgery, and contributes significantly to human health and wellbeing. Surgeons have significant autonomy in what, how and on whom they choose to develop surgery. Developing surgery faces less scrutiny than innovation in pharmacology. Because of this, little is known about how decisions are made to develop surgery, how the risks and benefits of using un-trialled techniques and devices is managed and the degree of patient involvement in these decisions. Better understanding of these processes forms part of the objectives of the University Hospitals Bristol NIHR Bristol BRC workstream "Improving the safe and transparent translation of surgical innovation", led by Professor Jane Blazeby.
The overall aim of this theme is to shed light on three work important areas:
(i) How should early phase study in surgery be designed? What is the appropriate timing for randomised evaluation?
(ii) What is the role of information provision and informed consent for new and evolving surgeries?
(iii) How do should we assess benefit and harm outcomes of early phase studies.Patient experiences of, and attitudes toward, each of these areas as they pertain to the development of surgery are an important facet of any study of this area, yet a literature search revealed that patient views and experiences have only been studied on one occasion, where a United States team conducted a survey of patient attitudes to consent to innovative surgeries. While rigorous, that study gives little insight into the motivations and attitudes of NHS patients, and how these attitudes are affected by their values and experiences of surgery. The "Exploring Patient Views of Developing Surgery" study will address this gap in current research using qualitative research methods to explore patient's knowledge and perspectives of developing surgery and the way it is conducted and scrutinised.
REC name
North West - Greater Manchester East Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/NW/0560
Date of REC Opinion
16 Aug 2018
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion