Clinical research studies

We currently support a number of clinical research studies, including:

  • QualDash: computer technology is being used to develop a dashboard that is interactive, allowing healthcare professionals, managers, and commissioners to easily and quickly explore national audit information to understand where improvements in care delivery should be made.
  • BESS: A study looking at whether a liquid called surfactant could help babies with Bronchiolitis to reduce the time they need to be on the Mechanical Ventilator. Surfactant has been used in premature babies with other lung problems for over 30 years, but we don’t know if it will work in babies with Bronchiolitis.  

For more information on QualDash and the BESS study,
please contact stephen.playfor@mft.nhs.uk

  • OXY-PICU: The aim is to find out whether children in intensive care, who are receiving oxygen while needing help from a ventilator, should have their oxygen saturations kept at a lower level (88-92%, which is within recommended guidelines) or at the level currently used (95-100%).

For more information on the OXY-PICU study, 
please contact Katarzyna.Swist-Szulik@mft.nhs.uk

  • First ABC: The aim is to find out whether High Flow Nasal Cannula (HFNC) is as good as called Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) for children who need non-invasive respiratory support.

For more information on the First ABC study,
please contact graham.mason@mft.nhs.uk

  • KidsBrainIT: The aim is to establish a new multi-centre paediatric brain trauma clinical research group (KidsBrainIT) which uses routinely collected minute by minute observations and information technology innovations to improve the care, safety, and outcome for children who have had a traumatic brain injury
  • STARSHIP: The aim is to create a database from PICUs across the UK to be used for research purposes to determine optimal clinical parameters when managing paediatric patients after a severe traumatic brain injury

For more information on the KidsBrainIT and STARSHIP studies,
please contact gayathri.subramanian@mft.nhs.uk 

  • PERMIT: The aim is to see if patients on the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) recover quicker if they are given rehabilitation early on and are encouraged to get moving while they are still in PICU. This is known as ‘early rehabilitation and mobilisation’ (ERM).
  • LongVentKids: This study aims to provide valuable knowledge in regards to prolonged mechanical ventilation (for more than 14 days continuously) in critically ill children and will help determine the need for a standardised approach to care and procedures.

For more information on the PERMIT and LongVentKids studies, 
please contact ravishankar.nagaraj@mft.nhs.uk