HHTU News Roundup
Protocol paper published
The protocol for the STARLIT-3 Study has been published in BMJ Open.
STARLIT-3 is led by Dr Charlotte Elder at the University of Sheffield and managed by Kathryn Date here at the HHTU. It is the third study of the STARLIT programme of work.
The study is evaluating a novel, needle-free approach to diagnosing adrenal insufficiency — using Nasacthin nasal spray and salivary cortisol measurement instead of the injections and blood samples required for the Short Synacthen Test.
This randomised 2-way crossover trial will recruit 32 patients with adrenal insufficiency across Sheffield Children’s Hospital and Royal Hallamshire Hospital. Participants will receive both Synacthen and Nasacthin in a random order across two study visits. Paired blood and saliva samples will be collected at baseline, and at 30 and 60 minutes after drug administration.
The study will then compare glucocorticoid levels to determine whether the Nasacthin test can accurately diagnose adrenal insufficiency, alongside assessing safety, tolerability, usability and patient acceptability.
This work could represent an important step forward in making adrenal insufficiency testing less invasive and more accessible.
The study is funded by the Medical Research Council and sponsored by Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust.
You can read the full protocol here: https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/16/2/e112708.full
Researcher recruitment
It’s a busy time for recruiting researchers around here at the moment. 1 post working on DESTIGMATISE has just closed but there are still 3 researcher jobs currently live on the University of Hull Jobs page. These are working for clinical trials that are being delivered in collaboration with the HHTU.
You can read about the 3 roles below and the studies they will be working on below. This will also give you a sneak peak into 4 of our studies currently in set up!!
Postdoctoral Researcher in Implementation Science (Closing date 12 March)
The successful applicant will play a major role in delivering the NEWDAY-ABC process evaluation (60%) and Re-SCAIT work packages (40%), contributing as appropriate in each study to obtaining research governance and ethical approvals, conducting and analysing qualitative semi-structured interviews with study participants, health professionals & managers, non-participant observation and analysis of intervention delivery, and experience-based co-design workshops for implementation strategy development and tailoring/optimisation. Achieving the duties of the post will require active collaboration with the studies’ public involvement members and study leads/partners at the University of Hull, University of Sheffield, and study sites.
Qualitative Research Fellow (STEPFORWARD) (Closing date 19 March)
The post holder will undertake the qualitative work within the STEPFORWARD trial. The trial starts with an internal pilot study within which an embedded qualitative process evaluation will run to understand the acceptability of the intervention and trial processes. During the pilot study the postholder will interview trial consenters and decliners to capture their experience of the trial, and with staff to identify barriers and facilitators to recruitment. The postholder will use the data to inform and amend the recruitment strategy as required. The postholder will also conduct interviews with participants after the prosthesis is fitted to understand engagement and prosthesis use.
During the main part of the trial, as part of the SWAT, the postholder will complete semi-structured interviews with site staff and participants to explore the acceptability of using AI technology during recruitment. Towards the end of the trial the postholder will use surveys and interviews with staff to develop an implementation plan using Normalisation Process Theory (NPT).
Qualitative Research Fellow (Neorehab) (Closing date 19 March)
The post holder will undertake the qualitative work within the NEOREHAB trial. This will include focus groups with stakeholders (clinicians, exercise physiologists, patients) to refine the intervention; semi-structured interviews with patients and clinicians in the early months of the trial to pro-actively identify any issues with study processes; further interviews with patients and clinicians to gain an in-depth understanding of trial feasibility and acceptability.
At the end of the study the post holder will also interview patients and clinicians from different specialities to explore ways care could be redesigned, which clinicians should monitor patients, and how best to support patients.
Other February headlines:
9 participants recruited
2 new particpants recruited
1 participant recruited to STARLIT 3
5 participants recruited
1 participants recruited
5 participants recruited