Spaniel Study

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  The Spaniel Study: a study to co-develop a complex intervention to improve the process of Shared decision making for PAtieNts prIor to potential Emergency Laparotomy

• IRAS ID

  342163

• Contact name

  Samuel Lawday

• Contact email

  samuel.lawday@bristol.ac.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  University of Bristol

• Duration of Study in the UK

  3 years, 0 months, 0 days

• Research summary

  Emergency surgery can be life changing. An ‘emergency laparotomy’ is an old fashioned operation that involves making a large vertical cut in the tummy, sometimes involving the removal of some bowel and the formation of a stoma. This operation is common, with more than 25,000 patients receiving this annually in England. Treatment is high-risk, with more than 10% of patients dying within a month of surgery. For those that survive there is often an impact on quality of life.
  The decision whether to have an emergency laparotomy is therefore important. We know that patients want to be involved in healthcare decisions through ‘shared decision-making’. Little is known about how to best support shared decision making for emergency surgery. These decisions must happen quickly, when patients may be in severe pain or distress and they may have little family support. The few studies that describe shared decision making for emergency surgery suggest that patients feel they have less information, choice and opportunity to ask questions when compared to elective surgery. As a result, improving shared decision-making was identified as a patient and professional research priority.
  Methods:
  1. Talk to patients and professionals from different backgrounds about their views and experiences on decision making for emergency laparotomy. This will establish how shared decision making for emergency laparotomy ought to happen.
  2. Establish how shared decision making for emergency laparotomy is happening in the real world by working within the surgical teams at three English hospitals and closely observe interactions between people (e.g. patients/professionals/family) involved with decision-making.
  3. Use the results from the interviews and real world work to create an intervention to improve the process of shared decision making before a potential emergency laparotomy

• REC name

  Wales REC 4

• REC reference

  24/WA/0285

• Date of REC Opinion

  18 Sep 2024

• REC opinion

  Favourable Opinion