Get Randomised campaign wants to raise awareness of selecting the right treatment for patients
Bid to help public understand importance of clinical trials
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Medics and academics from universities in Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow have launched a public awareness campaign to highlight the importance of randomised clinical trials.
The Get Randomised campaign, which will be shown on television for the next month, is a UK first and is designed to encourage patients to sign up for clinical trials. Although several thousand clinical trials take place in the UK every year, a common experience of researchers is that it is difficult to recruit patients.
The campaign has been driven forward by Tom MacDonald, professor of clinical pharmacology at Dundee University, in collaboration with leading Scottish university figures, and the aim is to communicate the importance of research trials, and the use of placebos, in finding the most effective way to treat patients.
Prof MacDonald said: “Doctors decide how to treat patients based on evidence from clinical trials. Random allocation of different treatments within the context of a research study is the best way to establish robust evidence as to how best to treat patients.
“It is our hope that through this campaign the importance of clinical trials becomes better understood by the public, increasing participation and ultimately helping patients to help themselves and future generations to better treatment.”
Margaret Toshney, 64 , of Dundee, took part in a randomised clinical trial after discussing the best way to treat pain in her joints with her GP. Mrs Toshney said: “It became clear there were many options for me but no conclusive answers as to which treatment would work best. It was at this point that my GP explained the basis of randomised clinical trials.
“There was only possible benefit for me as there are so many treatments out there but no answers as to which one worked best.
“It was on this basis that I was more than happy to be randomised as I knew the treatments were already being used and wanted to play my part in establishing the best way to treat my condition, both for my own sake and for future generations.”
ARC Professor of Rheumatology at Edinburgh University, Stuart Ralston, added: “Information from randomised trials is critical in allowing doctors to select the right treatment and we hope the campaign will raise awareness of this.”
