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News & Reports research
Involving pet owners in setting priorities for research Chronic kidney disease (CKD) causes significant morbidity and mortality in older cats and can be a frustrating condition to treat. While there is some evidence to support the interventions that are available, many questions remain about the efficacy of treatments. Here, Rachel Dean, of the Centre for Evidence-based Veterinary Medicine (CEVM) at Nottingham veterinary school, explains how she has adapted a method used in human healthcare to help prioritise research questions and applied it to CKD in cats WORK in the human medical field has shown that if both patients and doctors are involved in identifying which research questions are the most important, the subsequent research has a greater impact on human health. The James Lind Alliance (JLA) works to bring together patients, carers and clinicians to identify the top 10 priorities regarding treatment efficacy for a number of different diseases. Until recently, the JLA method had been used only in human healthcare, but, at a facilitated workshop at Nottingham vet school in November, an adapted method was applied to CKD in cats. An initial survey of cat owners and veterinary surgeons was carried out before the workshop to identify questions about treatment efficacy in CKD in cats. Three hundred responses were received, with 54 per cent coming from veterinary surgeons (some of whom also owned cats with CKD) and 46 per cent from cat owners with experience of CKD. From the responses, 382 questions about the treatment of CKD were identified before being narrowed down to 28 questions suitable for prioritisation. At the workshop on November 5, 2014, 13 participants – 10 vets, two of whom owned cats with CKD, and three owners – debated and discussed the 28 questions, with the help of Katherine Cowan, a senior adviser to the JLA. Eventually, a top 10 list of prioritised research questions about the treatment uncertainties of CKD in cats was produced. These will be published on the CEVM’s website in due course. ‘It was fascinating to be part of a recognisable process in a rather different setting,’ said Ms Cowan. ‘Nevertheless, many of the discussion points which characterise our human health research prioritisation workshops were familiar. For example, owners/carers wanting a greater involvement in the delivery of care, and vets/clinicians being surprised about the lack of evidence around standard treatments. It was impressive and exciting to see how easily the JLA process could be adapted to a different area of medicine, even though it wasn’t practical for the “patients” themselves to be there.’ Claire Stephens, one of the cat owners who attended the workshop, was also enthusiastic: ‘I feel the day was extremely
Participants in the workshop consider the questions about CKD in cats during the prioritisation exercise
positive, as the method used allowed everyone to have an input and so the wealth of experience at the meeting was utilised. Vets and cat owners all had their opinions taken into account and I feel everyone was listened to. A very fair and intelligent way of determining the questions that need to be asked in this important area of veterinary medicine.’ Veterinary surgeon Natalie Finch, who is currently a Wellcome Trust clinical scholar at the Academic Renal Unit at the University
of Bristol, added that it was good to hear perspectives from both owners and vets in general practice: ‘Sometimes I think you lose track of important questions when you are in referral work and research, and become too focused on your own area of interest.’ Once the top 10 priorities have been published on the CEVM’s website, the next steps will be to publicise the need for more research in these areas and to plan research to answer some of the questions. doi: 10.1136/vr.g7783
62 | Veterinary Record | January 17, 2015
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Downloaded from http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/ on June 8, 2015 - Published by group.bmj.com
Involving pet owners in setting priorities for research Veterinary Record 2015 176: 62
doi: 10.1136/vr.g7783 Updated information and services can be found at: http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/content/176/3/62.1
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To request permissions go to: http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions To order reprints go to: http://journals.bmj.com/cgi/reprintform To subscribe to BMJ go to: http://group.bmj.com/subscribe/
News & Reports research
Involving pet owners in setting priorities for research Chronic kidney disease (CKD) causes significant morbidity and mortality in older cats and can be a frustrating condition to treat. While there is some evidence to support the interventions that are available, many questions remain about the efficacy of treatments. Here, Rachel Dean, of the Centre for Evidence-based Veterinary Medicine (CEVM) at Nottingham veterinary school, explains how she has adapted a method used in human healthcare to help prioritise research questions and applied it to CKD in cats WORK in the human medical field has shown that if both patients and doctors are involved in identifying which research questions are the most important, the subsequent research has a greater impact on human health. The James Lind Alliance (JLA) works to bring together patients, carers and clinicians to identify the top 10 priorities regarding treatment efficacy for a number of different diseases. Until recently, the JLA method had been used only in human healthcare, but, at a facilitated workshop at Nottingham vet school in November, an adapted method was applied to CKD in cats. An initial survey of cat owners and veterinary surgeons was carried out before the workshop to identify questions about treatment efficacy in CKD in cats. Three hundred responses were received, with 54 per cent coming from veterinary surgeons (some of whom also owned cats with CKD) and 46 per cent from cat owners with experience of CKD. From the responses, 382 questions about the treatment of CKD were identified before being narrowed down to 28 questions suitable for prioritisation. At the workshop on November 5, 2014, 13 participants – 10 vets, two of whom owned cats with CKD, and three owners – debated and discussed the 28 questions, with the help of Katherine Cowan, a senior adviser to the JLA. Eventually, a top 10 list of prioritised research questions about the treatment uncertainties of CKD in cats was produced. These will be published on the CEVM’s website in due course. ‘It was fascinating to be part of a recognisable process in a rather different setting,’ said Ms Cowan. ‘Nevertheless, many of the discussion points which characterise our human health research prioritisation workshops were familiar. For example, owners/carers wanting a greater involvement in the delivery of care, and vets/clinicians being surprised about the lack of evidence around standard treatments. It was impressive and exciting to see how easily the JLA process could be adapted to a different area of medicine, even though it wasn’t practical for the “patients” themselves to be there.’ Claire Stephens, one of the cat owners who attended the workshop, was also enthusiastic: ‘I feel the day was extremely
Participants in the workshop consider the questions about CKD in cats during the prioritisation exercise
positive, as the method used allowed everyone to have an input and so the wealth of experience at the meeting was utilised. Vets and cat owners all had their opinions taken into account and I feel everyone was listened to. A very fair and intelligent way of determining the questions that need to be asked in this important area of veterinary medicine.’ Veterinary surgeon Natalie Finch, who is currently a Wellcome Trust clinical scholar at the Academic Renal Unit at the University
of Bristol, added that it was good to hear perspectives from both owners and vets in general practice: ‘Sometimes I think you lose track of important questions when you are in referral work and research, and become too focused on your own area of interest.’ Once the top 10 priorities have been published on the CEVM’s website, the next steps will be to publicise the need for more research in these areas and to plan research to answer some of the questions. doi: 10.1136/vr.g7783
62 | Veterinary Record | January 17, 2015
57-65 News.indd 62
14/01/2015 16:42
Downloaded from http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/ on June 8, 2015 - Published by group.bmj.com
Involving pet owners in setting priorities for research Veterinary Record 2015 176: 62
doi: 10.1136/vr.g7783 Updated information and services can be found at: http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/content/176/3/62.1
These include:
Email alerting service
Receive free email alerts when new articles cite this article. Sign up in the box at the top right corner of the online article.
Notes
To request permissions go to: http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions To order reprints go to: http://journals.bmj.com/cgi/reprintform To subscribe to BMJ go to: http://group.bmj.com/subscribe/
