Clinical Research Oriented Workshop (CROW) Meeting: Dec 11, 2009

Clinical Research Oriented Workshop (CROW) Meeting: Dec 11, 2009

Present: Abby Crocker, Kairn Kelley, Rodger Kessler, Ben Littenberg, Connie van Eeghen
Absent: Matt Bovee, Liz Chen, Kim Dittus, Amanda Kennedy, Charlie MacLean, Maria Ramos, Alan Rubin

1. Start up: Brrrr! OK, winter is here; I’ll stop whining.

2. Roundtable, with update, short term goals, long term goals
a. Ben: Demo on how to access and update the blog. These instructions will be presented here and these notes will be copied only to the blog, after this update. So pay attention:
i. Go to http://uvmcts.blogspot.com/
You will see the contents of the blog and you can read it without signing in. If you would like to sign in, click “Sign In” in the top right hand corner and enter your e-mail address and password. Next:
ii. Click on “New Post” and add your thoughts.
This is as informal as having a hallway bulletin board or a white board on which we leave each other notes. Make the blogspot a favorite (or even your home page) and we’ll all be able to ‘find each other’ easily and quickly.

Even MORE helpfully, you will get the updated notes (and other CTS updates) automatically by e-mail if, after accessing the blogspot, you click “Click here to subscribe by Email” and enter your email address. You do not need to “sign in” in order to make this work; you just need to visit the blogspot once. This means you don’t have to remember to check the blog to get these wonderful notes. Take note!

BTW: there was a way cool link on the blogspot called: Equator Network, which is right on the home page of the blog in the right hand column providing advice and guidelines on Reporting Health Research. It features RCT and other research guidelines which even includes QI (now you know why I was interested). Sounds like its worth a visit when you get to the blog and have a little time to look around.

b. Abby: state and national datasets for secondary data analysis:
i. There are data sets available for us to browse, understand, and use; we need to view and refresh ourselves on them regularly
ii. www.sgim.org/index... provides a Research tab that lists research data sets for review. Obtaining the data, and understanding how they were put together and should be used, is another task entirely. CTS participants may have the opportunity to become experts for a particular data set; it would be good to know who in our Center has that expertise.
iii. We could work on sample projects, taking a single data set and exploring it for research in areas in which we are already interested.
iv. Students can also pair with a faculty member to explore a data set based on a topic with the goal of a submittable abstract at the end of 28 days.
v. Charlie has designed a course for grad students (special topics) the outcome of which is to understand how research and policy connect with each other. See Charlie for more details.
vi. Our work fits in a model in which our intuition may feed a qualitative study which may lead to quantitative study which may lead to an intervention based control trial which may lead to a dissemination process or change in clinical or institutional policy. This process is not usually linear and it has different levels of success: immediate change or the “anechoic” effect (no echo back). Other choices aside from academic publication: market forces, legislative, judicial, and behavioral economics are other levers for making change. What works, and why, is part of what we need to understand.

c. Kairn: Future workshop meetings in the spring semester: no change to our current day and time. We will continue to meet on Friday mornings, 9:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.

3. Next Fellows Meeting(s): Dec 18, 2009 from 9:30 – 11:00 a.m., at Given Courtyard Level 4
a. Dec 18: journal club with Abby Crocker’s article to answer questions about generalized linear mixed models (no Connie – could someone else take notes?)
b. Future agenda to consider:
i. Dec 25: no Workshop
ii. Jan 1: no Workshop
iii. Jan 8: Connie – research update
iv. Skype demo: Connie & Matt? Wait until Amanda K is back. Or do twice?
v. Future: Review of different types of journal articles (lit review, case study, original article, letter to editor…), when each is appropriate, tips on planning/writing (Abby)
vi. Future: Informed consent QI: Connie to follow up with Nancy Stalnaker, Alan Rubin will follow up with Alan Wortheimer or Rob McCauly
vii. Workshop’s WIP (the history document) – discuss goals and progress, make recommendations, review and modify document, add Fellows’ orientation

4. Fellows document – nothing new this time

Recorder: Connie van Eeghen