Feasibility study evaluating a prognostic model for blunt chest trauma
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A multi-centre randomised feasibility study evaluating the impact of a prognostic model for management of blunt chest wall trauma patients. STUMBL Trial
IRAS ID
213211
Contact name
Ceri Battle
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
ABMU Health Board
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 11 months, 30 days
Research summary
In 2014, in Morriston Hospital, 1038 patients with rib injuries visited Accident and Emergency (A&E). 100 of these were admitted to hospital and 13 died. It is difficult for A&E doctors to manage these patients as they often develop pneumonia, but not until up to 72 hours post-injury. Doctors need to be able to decide which patients can be discharged home from A&E, or which need to go to a ward, or to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
Over the last six years, we have designed a simple questionnaire that calculates a risk score that the doctors can use to decide which patients will develop pneumonia. The patient is scored on five pieces of information which are routinely collected in A&E. The five individual scores are added up and the total ‘risk score’ will help the doctor to decide where the patient should be managed (home, ward or ICU). In the long-term, the aim is to complete a large trial which will test whether our risk score works by helping doctors make the right decisions for patients and whether it saves NHS resources.
To successfully complete this large trial, we need to set up a smaller version of it. This ‘feasibility trial’ will help us test different aspects of the large future trial, such as how easy is it to recruit patients, do doctors use the risk score properly and is it easy to collect the information we need. The risk score will be tested in four hospitals. Information will be collected for two months about how patients are managed without using the risk score, followed by another two months using the risk score. By the end of the feasibility trial, the aim is to have all the answers we need, in order to set up the main future trial.
REC name
Wales REC 6
REC reference
16/WA/0290
Date of REC Opinion
27 Sep 2016
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion