HSRC Projects
Audits and Registries
Audits and registries are central to the activities of the HSRC. The establishment of a National Perioperative Registry was a founding goal of the HSRC and the bringing together of the Emergency Laparotomy Network (ELN) and HipFracture Perioperative Network in a collaborative grouping working towards shared aims is a step towards this goal.
The HSRC in collaboration with the ELN submitted a "New Topic Proposal" to the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP) in May 2011. This proposal was prioritised for funding. The HSRC (through the Royal College of Anaesthetists) tendered for this work in March 2012 and the contract for the National Emergency Laparotomy Audit (NELA) was awarded to us in June 2012.
The HSRC took over responsibility for the RCoA National Audit Projects (NAPs) and Dr Tim Cook joined the HSRC Executive Board to oversee this activity in his role as the RCOA Audit Lead.
Primary Research
Primary research involves the collection of original data. Primary research may be quantitative or qualitative.
- Quantitative research (in the context of HSR) includes clinical trials, cohort studies, questionnaires and surveys.
- Qualitative research (in the context of HSR) involves includes interviews, focus groups, participant observations and ethnographies.
The design of Primary Research can (and usually should) be informed by secondary research.
Secondary Research
Secondary research involves the summary, collation and/or synthesis of data which has already been collected. The principal methodology in medical secondary research is the systematic review. The aim of the systematic review is to avoid the bias inherent in a narrative (or subjective) review process by establishing a priori criteria for study selection, data extraction and analysis. Quantative analysis within systematic reviews commonly uses meta-analytic statistical techniques.
