Newsletter
Issue 10 Summer 2007
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Newsletter |
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HOLD THE
FRONT PAGE
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Every three months Haleema, Maria and I meet to decide what to put in the newsletter. All over the world new hospitals are joining the CRASH-2 trial and many have reached important milestones, but would this make the front page of The Daily Mail, The Kerala Kaumudi or Al Akhbar? Probably not. But we think it should! Thanks to you every week around 100 trauma patients are recruited into the CRASH-2 trial. Many trials published in leading medical journals have less than 100 patients. But CRASH-2 collaborators are recruiting more than this number every week. And every patient recruited makes a permanent contribution to the sum total of medical knowledge. And collaborators are doing this without being paid (apart from trial related expenses) because they care about trauma patients and want to improve the evidence base for their treatment. THIS IS FRONT PAGE NEWS. All strength to you, and where do we find the phone number of the editor of The Kerala Kaumudi! Ian Roberts |
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crash2 around the world |
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Team in National Trauma Centre, Albania, with Fatos Olldashi |
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Team in Aswan Teaching Hospital, Egypt, with Mamdouh Alamin |
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Universitario "Dr Gustavo Aldereguia Lima“, Cuba, with Marcos Iraola |
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Hospital General Universitario “Carlos Manuel de Céspedes“, Cuba, with Daimi Ricardo Martinez |
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St Theresa's Catholic Medical Centre, Cameroon, with Patrick Okwen |
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 Colombia National Co-ordinator Jorge Mejia Mantilla presenting the CRASH2 trial in Hospital Universitario del Valle who have just received their materials and will start randomisation any day now. |
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Local recognition for CRASH2 collaborator: India’s first ever GurukulJyoti Award for Excellence in Education was awarded to Christian Medical College in Vellore India in February. |
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which patients for the CRASH2 trial? The inclusion criteria for the CRASH-2 trial are pragmatic in order to reflect the real life circumstances in which an antifibrinolytic might be used. However, this can be difficult to teach to junior staff in the Emergency Department, as the phrase “any injured patient that you think is bleeding or at risk of bleeding” can be difficult to remember. A useful rule of thumb is to consider the CRASH-2 trial for any trauma patient who has a blood sample taken for a ’group and save’ or ‘cross match’. In an emergency situation staff tend to forget about research, so a good reminder is to place a “Trauma patient? - think about the CRASH-2 trial” sticker onto each blood transfusion form in the resuscitation area, to remind junior staff about the trial. Stickers have been sent to all UK centres and more are available form the Co-ordinating Centre. The key to successful recruitment to the CRASH-2 trial is to make sure that every potentially eligible patient is considered. |
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new ethics approvals - and some very quick starters:
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these hospitals have also started randomisation
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| special achievements - CONGRATULATIONS! | |
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