Off to a good start

Friday the 13th, usually not a good day to try out new things, but we dared anyway. With great success! For the last 6 months we have all been working hard on a course to teach our way of handling data and how we work from a clinical question to a paper. Friday 13th of December was our first try-out. An enthusiastic group of researchers and clinicians offered to be our guinea pigs and help us perfect our course.

The day started of with some theoretical presentations from people in our group. Topics we touched were basis scientific steps in formulating a good research question, pearls and pitfalls of observational data, an overview of how we collect data and briefly how we analyse these data.

In the afternoon we started with formulating research questions. We set out to answer the following questions:

• Which factors are associated with recurrent cubital tunnel syndrome?

• Is dorsal capsulodesis an effective treatment for mid carpal laxity?

• How long does it take to return to work after carpal tunnel release?

• What is the effect of having a paid job on the patient reported outcomes 12 months after major wrist surgery?

While the course is not about the answers as much as the question and the process of getting the answers, some results were striking and warranted future analyses.

Interested in learning how to go from clinical questions to evidence, sign up for the upcoming courses. Stay tuned!