Point-of-Care Clinical Trials in Sports Medicine Research: Identifying Effective Treatment Interventions Through Comparative Effectiveness Research.

Point-of-Care Clinical Trials in Sports Medicine Research: Identifying Effective Treatment Interventions Through Comparative Effectiveness Research. J Athl Train. 2019 Oct 16;: Authors: Lam KC, Bacon CEW, Sauers EL, Bay RC Abstract CONTEXT: Recently, calls to conduct comparative effectiveness research (CER) in athletic training to better support patient care decisions have been circulated. Traditional research methods (eg, randomized controlled trials [RCTs], observational studies) may be ill-suited for CER. Thus, innovative research methods are needed to support CER efforts. OBJECTIVES: To discuss the limitations of traditional research designs in CER studies, describe a novel methodologic approach called the point-of-care clinical trial (POC-CT), and highlight components of the POC-CT (eg, incorporation of an electronic medical record [EMR], Bayesian adaptive feature) that allow investigators to conduct scientifically rigorous studies at the point of care. DESCRIPTION: Practical concerns (eg, high costs and limited generalizability of RCTs, the inability to control for bias in observational studies) may stall CER efforts in athletic training. In short, the aim of the POC-CT is to embed a randomized pragmatic trial into routine care; thus, patients are randomized to minimize potential bias, but the study is conducted at the point of care to limit cost and improve the generalizability of the findings. Furthermore, the...
Source: J Athl Train - Category: Sports Medicine Authors: Tags: J Athl Train Source Type: research