Aims and Constitution...
1) Purpose
a. The purpose of the collaborative can be summarised by bringing benefits to;
i. The quality of audit and research projects being performed in the northern deanery region by enabling multi-centre, team working, focused, protocol driven projects with good support structures.
ii. Patients, through producing research/audits which answer significant clinical questions and change/improve patient care.
iii. Individual hospital and trusts by co-ordinating junior doctors and increasing their involvement in research.
iv. The individual registrars by increasing and improving the quality of work produced, which will improve CV’s, and give skills in research which will be useful in the future.
v. National networking and nationwide RCT’s with high impact results.
2) Aims
a. The aims can be well summarised by figure 1.
3) Name
a. The name “Northern Urology Research Collaborative” will be adopted in the absence of any other name which summarises the nature of the collaborative which seeks to be encompassing to many different positions (consultants, SHO, Fy1, nurses etc) and not just registrars.
4) Committee
a. Committee positions will required and made up as outlined below. In time it is anticipated further positions will be required as the collaborative expands (junior surgical liason, new projects supervisor). Committee positions will run for a 2 year period. Collaborative members will be asked to put themselves forward for positions. Where 2 or more members vie for one post then an anonymous democratic election of the collaborative members will be performed. If there are disagreements amongst the collaborative on what projects to pursue, organisational problems etc then the final say will come down to a vote from amongst the committee, of which the chair will have the casting vote. Committee consists of:
i. Chair person – chairs meetings, writes and distributes agenda, responsible for direction/vision of collaborative, point of contact for national networking.
ii. Secretary – writes and distributes minutes, books room for meetings, general communication to collaborative.
iii. Webmaster – design and maintenance of NURC webpage which will allow; message board for communication, posting of minutes of meetings and constitution, summary of collaborative activity/publications/presentations, details of upcoming meetings and events, educational information.
iv. Principle investigator of each working party.
v. Treasurer
5) Membership
a. During its infancy all the SpR’s will continue to be emailed and kept up to date with collaborative activity. Once the collaborative is established SpR’s or other doctors/health professionals will be asked to commit to being members of the collaborative. This will involve agreeing to the current constitution and playing an active part in collaborative proceedings.
6) Meetings
a. Meetings will be held monthly for the first 6 months on the third Thursday of the month in the urology seminar room, Freeman Hospital.
b. The agenda for each meeting will be sent out before the meeting.
c. At each meeting there will be opportunity to discuss new projects and get feedback on existing projects.
d. In time there could also be some educational involvement/presentations from appropriate people.
e. Meetings are open to anyone who would like to attend.
7) Consultant liaison
a. Prof Pickard has provided the impetus for the development of the NURC and will maintain a significant say on the projects that are taken on in the initial 12 months of collaborative establishment.
b. Other consultants who will be involved in projects will be invited to participate on a ‘Project Specific’ basis rather than a ‘site specific’ basis.
8) Project pathway
a. Project presentation idea to the collaborative
i. Ideally there should be some understanding of background/literature to the project idea being presented. However a full literature review does not necessarily need to have been performed and ideas can be presented without any background review. It is expected that project ideas presented will be in a various states of preparation.
ii. There will be time at the beginning of each meeting to discuss all new ideas.
iii. Ideas should fit with the PICO criteria (see appendix 1; information on developing research ideas and protocols).
b. Decision on initial progression.
i. After discussion amongst the collaborative, if an idea seems to have weight then the presenting registrar will need to perform a full literature review, with the aid of other members of the collaborative as required and report back to the collaborative.
ii. At the next meeting a final decision on progressing with an idea will be made. If there is no consensus then the final decision will be made by the committee and Prof Pickard.
c. Working party assembled
i. Once a project is accepted by the collaborative, SpR’s at each site (FRH, SRH, JCUH and CIC) who are interested in that project will form a working party. As there is only one SpR at CIC there will be a limit to how many projects CIC can contribute to. Potentially more than one SpR per centre could be involved.
ii. The working party will need to elect a Principle investigator, who ordinarily be the SpR who conceived and presented the study.
iii. It will be up to the working party to organise the project and themselves as a group.
d. Protocol and timetable development
i. The first step, following a full literature review, will be to write the protocol which encompasses methodology and timetable. This must be adhered to throughout the project.
e. Reporting back
i. At each meeting there will be an opportunity for the working group to present back to the collaborative the progress of the current project. Difficulties or delays can be discussed.
f. Writing group
i. The writing group will be made up of the working party. The principle investigator will ordinarily lead the writing and as such be the first author on any paper. However this can be delegated to another member of the working party if all the working party agree.
ii. The principle investigator will have the final say with regards to the content of any manuscript.
9) Authorship policy
a. The writing group will be named authors on the paper.
b. All other members of the collaborative will be accredited in the author list by the term ..”on behalf of the Northern Urology Research Collaborative”. Although names will only appear at the end of the paper under the heading of the “collaborative” - accreditation does mean that papers are pub-med citable for those in the collaborative.
c. There will be the possibility of co-opting on other members to the writing group as the collaborative sees fit on a case by case basis e.g. an SHO who has been heavily involved in data collection, or a doctor/nurse who has done most recruiting.
10) Support for the collaborative
a. There are a number of bodies which might be able to provide valuable support to the collaborative projects:
i. Trials unit
ii. RCS regional
iii. CLRN
iv. University
v. NEUS
vi. BAUS
11) Types of studies.
a. Cohort study
b. Case control
c. Questionnaire
d. Retrosepctive audit
e. Prospective audit
f. RCT
12) Finance
a. A bank account will be set up under the name of ‘NURC’. NURC is a non-for-profit organisation. All funds will be used for the progression of the aims stated in this constitution. All payments from the NURC account will require 2 signatures. In time it may be appropriate to apply for charitable status.