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Use of scratchcards for allocation concealment in a prehospital randomised controlled trial
BACKGROUND: Rapid Analgesia for Prehospital Hip Disruption was a small study designed to determine the feasibility of undertaking a randomised controlled trial (RCT) to test the clinical and cost-effectiveness of paramedics administering Fascia Iliaca Compartment Block as early prehospital pain reli...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
BMJ Publishing Group
2018
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6225792/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30209073 http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/emermed-2018-207881 |
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author | Keen, Leigh Bulger, Jenna Katherine Rees, Nigel Snooks, Helen Fegan, Greg Ford, Simon Evans, Bridie Angela Longo, Mirella |
author_facet | Keen, Leigh Bulger, Jenna Katherine Rees, Nigel Snooks, Helen Fegan, Greg Ford, Simon Evans, Bridie Angela Longo, Mirella |
author_sort | Keen, Leigh |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: Rapid Analgesia for Prehospital Hip Disruption was a small study designed to determine the feasibility of undertaking a randomised controlled trial (RCT) to test the clinical and cost-effectiveness of paramedics administering Fascia Iliaca Compartment Block as early prehospital pain relief to patients with a fractured hip. The objective was to devise a simple and effective method of random allocation concealment suitable for use by paramedics while in the emergency prehospital setting. METHODS: Scratchcards were produced using scratch-off silver stickers which concealed the trial arm allocation. Paramedics were each allocated a unique range of consecutive numbers, used as both the scratchcard number and the patient’s study ID. The cards were designed to allow the paramedic to write on the incident number, date and signature. A small envelope holding the cards was prepared for each paramedic. The study took place between 28 June 2016 and 31 July 2017 in the Swansea area. RESULTS: Nineteen trial paramedics used 71 scratchcards throughout the study and reported no problems randomly allocating patients using the scratchcards. Five protocol deviations were reported in relation to scratchcard use. On auditing the scratchcards, all unused cards were located, and no evidence of tampering with the silver panel was found. CONCLUSION: Paramedics can use scratchcards as a method of randomly allocating patients in trials in prehospital care. In the future, a method that allows only the top card to be selected and a more protective method of storing the cards should be used. Scratchcards can be considered for wider use in RCTs in the emergency prehospital setting. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ISRCTN60065373; Post-results. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-6225792 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2018 |
publisher | BMJ Publishing Group |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-62257922018-11-23 Use of scratchcards for allocation concealment in a prehospital randomised controlled trial Keen, Leigh Bulger, Jenna Katherine Rees, Nigel Snooks, Helen Fegan, Greg Ford, Simon Evans, Bridie Angela Longo, Mirella Emerg Med J Short Report BACKGROUND: Rapid Analgesia for Prehospital Hip Disruption was a small study designed to determine the feasibility of undertaking a randomised controlled trial (RCT) to test the clinical and cost-effectiveness of paramedics administering Fascia Iliaca Compartment Block as early prehospital pain relief to patients with a fractured hip. The objective was to devise a simple and effective method of random allocation concealment suitable for use by paramedics while in the emergency prehospital setting. METHODS: Scratchcards were produced using scratch-off silver stickers which concealed the trial arm allocation. Paramedics were each allocated a unique range of consecutive numbers, used as both the scratchcard number and the patient’s study ID. The cards were designed to allow the paramedic to write on the incident number, date and signature. A small envelope holding the cards was prepared for each paramedic. The study took place between 28 June 2016 and 31 July 2017 in the Swansea area. RESULTS: Nineteen trial paramedics used 71 scratchcards throughout the study and reported no problems randomly allocating patients using the scratchcards. Five protocol deviations were reported in relation to scratchcard use. On auditing the scratchcards, all unused cards were located, and no evidence of tampering with the silver panel was found. CONCLUSION: Paramedics can use scratchcards as a method of randomly allocating patients in trials in prehospital care. In the future, a method that allows only the top card to be selected and a more protective method of storing the cards should be used. Scratchcards can be considered for wider use in RCTs in the emergency prehospital setting. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ISRCTN60065373; Post-results. BMJ Publishing Group 2018-11 2018-09-12 /pmc/articles/PMC6225792/ /pubmed/30209073 http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/emermed-2018-207881 Text en © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2018. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ. This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. |
spellingShingle | Short Report Keen, Leigh Bulger, Jenna Katherine Rees, Nigel Snooks, Helen Fegan, Greg Ford, Simon Evans, Bridie Angela Longo, Mirella Use of scratchcards for allocation concealment in a prehospital randomised controlled trial |
title | Use of scratchcards for allocation concealment in a prehospital randomised controlled trial |
title_full | Use of scratchcards for allocation concealment in a prehospital randomised controlled trial |
title_fullStr | Use of scratchcards for allocation concealment in a prehospital randomised controlled trial |
title_full_unstemmed | Use of scratchcards for allocation concealment in a prehospital randomised controlled trial |
title_short | Use of scratchcards for allocation concealment in a prehospital randomised controlled trial |
title_sort | use of scratchcards for allocation concealment in a prehospital randomised controlled trial |
topic | Short Report |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6225792/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30209073 http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/emermed-2018-207881 |
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