Purpose: Nurses provide care at each phase of the complex perioperative pathway and are well placed to identify areas requiring investigation in randomised controlled trials. Yet, currently, scope nurse-led trials conducted within setting unknown. This scoping review aims which have been conducted, issues impacting upon quality these gaps for future investigation.

BACKGROUND/AIMS The stepped-wedge cluster randomised trial design has received substantial attention in recent years. Although various extensions to the original design have been proposed, no guidance is available on the design of stepped-wedge cluster randomised trials with interim analyses. In an individually randomised trial setting, group sequential methods can provide notable efficiency ga...

BACKGROUND Intercostal catheters are commonly used for the drainage of intrathoracic collections in newborn infants, including pneumothorax and pleural effusions. Placement of an intercostal drain is a potential risk factor for nosocomial infection due to breach of the cutaneous barrier. Therefore, neonates who require intercostal drainage, especially those in high risk groups for nosocomial in...

Often, single-arm trials are used in phase II to gather the first evidence of an oncological drug's efficacy, with drug activity determined through tumour response using the RECIST criterion. Provided the null hypothesis of 'insufficient drug activity' is rejected, the next step could be a randomised two-arm trial. However, single-arm trials may provide a biased treatment effect because of pati...

Background Snakebite is a priority neglected tropical disease and causes range of complications that vary depending on the snake species. Randomised clinical trials have used varied outcome measures do not allow results to be compared or combined. In accordance with Core Outcomes Measurements in Effectiveness Trials (COMET) initiative, this systematic review aims support development globally re...

BACKGROUND Reporting of pharmaceutical-industry-sponsored randomised clinical trials often result in biased findings, either due to selective reporting of studies with non-equivalent arms or publication of low-quality papers, wherein unfavourable results are incompletely described. A randomised trial should be conducted only if there is substantial uncertainty about the relative value of one tr...

High-quality randomised controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating surgical therapies are fundamental to the delivery of evidence-based orthopaedics. Orthopaedic clinical trials have unique challenges; however, when these challenges are overcome, evidence from trials can be definitive in its impact on surgical practice. In this review, we highlight several issues that pose potential challenges to orth...