Full title
Developing a consensus on the outcomes measured in the effectiveness of surgical management of acute acromioclavicular joint (ACJ) injuries and lateral clavicle fractures – A Delphi study
Background
Despite many case-control and small randomised control studies of surgical fixation methods for acute ACJ injuries and lateral clavicle fractures, there is a lack of standardisations of measured outcomes as well as multiple types of fixation making data synthesis difficult.
A core set of outcomes that should be measured in each surgical effectiveness trial should be employed to limit the research waste incurred by this lack of standardisation and minimise reporting bias.
The core outcomes should include both clinician, patient and therapist-initiated outcomes and should be easy, economical, and acceptable to measure. There are no core outcome sets published or in development following a search of the literature and assessment of the COMET register.
What we are doing
Three stakeholder groups will be recruited to the Delphi consensus process:
- Medical professionals
- Allied healthcare professionals
- Patients
We are using a Delphi consensus approach to develop consensus on the core outcome sets. A maximum of three rounds online will be undertaken. Respondents will be asked to score the importance of each pre-identified outcome and list any outcomes that are missing.
Co-chief investigator
Dr Helen Ingoe & Professor Amar Rangan
Sponsor
South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Funder
AO UK and I
Current status
In write-up