Patient Perspectives on Priorities for Emergency Medicine Research: The PERSPEX Study

For which topic were research priorities identified?

emergency medicine

In which location was the research priority setting conducted?

Australia - Australia

Why was it conducted at all?

There is increasing involvement of laypeople in research planning in many disease-specific areas. Data concerning patient priorities for emergency medicine (EM) research are lacking, but prioritization of future research directions within EM should be guided in part by patients. Potential benefits include improved patient awareness of, and satisfac tion with, clinical research. This could contribute to improved enrol ment, more patient-centred study outcomes and support for funding applications. We aimed to identify patient priorities for EM research.

What was the objective?

to determine the priorities for emergency medicine research of patients currently in an emergency department and to compare their priorities with those of ACEM researchers

What was the outcome?

a ranking list of 5 research topics

How long did the research prioritization take?

October 2015 - December 2015

Which methods were used to identify research priorities?

survey

How were the priorities for research identified exactly?

Step 1: survey asking open-ended questions: "What was the problem that brought you to the ED today? In your opinion, what are the top three priorities that you think researchers should focus on in the ED?" In 2014, ED researchers asked to indicate their top priorities for ED research. We would like to know your opinion on the same topic. Please number (in the boxes) from 1 to 5 the top five research categories that you feel should be research priorities in the ED. Step 2: data processing: thematic analysis of answers to question 2

Which stakeholders took part?

Patients in the EDs of Royal Perth Hospital and Armadale Health Service. 403 participants.

How were stakeholders recruited?

A convenience sample of patients in Royal Perth Hospital (RPH) and Armadale Health Service (AHS) EDs during their attendance was used. Research nurses and the authors approached patients in the ED who were given a verbal explanation of the study and invited to complete the survey.

Were stakeholders actively involved or did they just participate?

Stakeholders were mere participants of the research prioritization process; they were not actively involved in the process.