UHDB research team praised for recruiting incredible number of patients into FLO-ELA study
A team of researchers at UHDB have been recognised for recruiting over 50 patients to an important piece of research which hopes to reduce mortality rates in patients aged 50 and over who are undergoing an emergency laparotomy. The FLuid Optimisation in Emergency Laparotomy (FLO-ELA) trial, is a national piece of research involving 50 UK hospitals which aims to find out whether cardiac-output guided haemodynamic therapy given to patients during and shortly after emergency bowel surgery could save lives and reduce time in hospital, when compared with usual care.
The team at UHDB managed to recruit more than 50 patients to the trial and have received a special letter of recognition for their “outstanding achievement” from Dr Mark Edwards MRCP FRCA MD (Res) who is a Consultant in Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine at University Hospital Southampton NHSFT and the Chief Investigator of the FLO-ELA trial. Dr Edwards commended the team and said it has “made a highly significant contribution to research in a challenging clinical setting and stands out at a national level.”
Dr Tanuja Shah, Consultant Anaesthetist & EMSA Core TPD, is leading the trial at Royal Derby Hospital with the support of research nurses, practitioners and facilitators and the clinical departments of surgery, anaesthesia and critical care.
Kathleen Holding, Lead Clinical Trials Nurse is also part of the team delivering the trial and said she and her colleagues have been ‘re-energised’ since receiving the letter.
She said: “A lot of things were paused by Covid including this because it needs a high dependency ITU bed. But we have been working really hard to get it back on track.
“It is really unusual to get such a letter. It has upped morale and we all feel incredibly lucky to be recognised for this work so it has been really positive.”
The FLO-ELA trial is the largest of its kind in the area and has already recruited over 1,000 participants across more than 50 hospitals
This patient group is increasingly recognised as one with a significant healthcare burden and is the subject of a national quality improvement programme (the National Emergency Laparotomy Audit).