Figures just released today have shown that the Emergency Medicine Research Group Edinburgh (EMERGE) recruited 3,505 patients to clinical trials during 2018/19. The team also screened 9,303 patients for study eligibility during the same period.
This means that the number of patients recruited to NHS Lothian Emergency Department research studies has increased for the 5th consecutive year in succession.
EMERGE director Matt Reed said on the new figures: ‘This is an amazing achievement by the group. To continue this sustained growth over the last few years is testament to the hard work and dedication of our team. We are striving to ultimately give all patients who attend the Emergency Department the opportunity to take part in clinical research enabling them access to the latest treatments and diagnostics. It is now well established that hospitals that have thriving research systems have much better clinical care and outcomes’
EMERGE manager Miranda Odam said: ‘This is a real achievement, only delivered by the hard work of each team member. Only a few years back even the idea of giving this number of patients the opportunity to participate in clinical research in the emergency department was unheard of and thought overly challenging. As a research team we consistently work to push the boundaries to optimise this environment with the hope of improving patient care through quicker and more accurate research-based diagnostics, treatments and overall healthcare improvement. Emergency medicine research is an enormously exciting research specialty to work within, and I am delighted that as a team we can celebrate this level of success. We will embrace what the next year brings and aspire to continue to provide quality research to emergency medicine. This an inspiring time to be part of such a growing research community’
Anyone wishing to find out more about clinical research at the Emergency Department of the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh can visit our website at https://emergeresearch.org or call Miranda on 0131 242 3857.
