Clinical Research Oriented Workshop (CROW) Meeting: May 26, 2010

Present: Abby Crocker, Amanda Kennedy, Rodger Kessler, Ben Littenberg, Carole McBride, Connie van Eeghen

1. Round Table: Fire drill rules: just leave. Don’t ask, don’t ponder, just leave. Safety first.

2. Abby’s Research:

a. Reviewing a research article Abby drafted last year as part of a student assignment: article needs to get out the door. It is titled “Outpatient Methadone Treatment of Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome: A Case Series Report” and needs to be reduced to a 1600 word limit. Abby would like to include a single figure that presents how population was identified (one figure will count towards the word limit as 200 words.)
b. Abby reviewed the study, along with the clinical protocol and underlying rationale for treating neonates born to drug addicted mothers. She noted that scores reflecting the acuity of the neonate have improved over time, apparently indicating reduced withdrawal symptoms over time, although other interpretations are possible.
c. Points:
i. Need to include raw score data in order to demonstrate the change in acuity over time
ii. Variation in treatment (methadone vs. morphine) is probably based on many factors, one of which may be the treatment protocol and how it is used by the provider. There is a future research opportunity to investigate this that requires the full participation of the providers. Such a study could include the long term effects of using morphine vs. methadone as the treatment of choice for neonates.
iii. Results indicate that the intervention (methadone) is safe, effective, less expensive from a payer perspective, and probably better for creating a maternal/infant bond.
iv. The group identified multiple research and funding paths, as well as strategies for moving forward from a career perspective.
v. Figure development: reference CONSORT as the standard for randomized control trials, which can be found on the CTS blog home page. Also, EQUATOR (not JUPITER) is a webpage with a variety of tools for different kinds of studies and the diagrams that help create a picture (e.g. of the results).
vi. Abby identified the main results: quantifiable outcomes of 127 selected babies treated for this syndrome, with related statistics that are easily available to describe the subjects. It was recommended that she explain why the other 228 babies were not included and summarize the results just for the focus of the study.

3. Next Fellows Meeting(s): Wednesday, 2:00 – 3:30 p.m., at Given Courtyard Level 4
a. June 2: Kairn’s article on factor analysis to explore with the group (no Connie)
b. June 9: Rodger: figure for article and metrics for dashboard for next start up
c. June 16: (no Connie or Matt)
d. June 23:
e. June 30:
f. Future agenda to consider:
i. Rodger’s mixed methods article
ii. How to predict medical events effectively (Ben)
iii. 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)
iv. Future: Informed consent QI: Connie to follow up with Nancy Stalnaker, Alan Rubin will follow up with Alan Wortheimer or Rob McCauly
v. Kairn will ask a librarian to join us for selected issues
vi. Matt away from July 21 to August 1

4. Fellows document – nothing this time – to be reviewed after trialing Wednesday meeting times, which started May 5, 2010.

Recorder: Connie van Eeghen