The NIH Collaboratory is pleased to announce new training resources available on the Living Textbook. These resources are being shared with the research community to provide guidance about building partnerships with health systems and overcoming the challenges of conducting embedded pragmatic clinical trials (ePCTs). The materials reflect the knowledge, insight, and best practices acquired by the NIH Collaboratory program and its Demonstration Projects.
Resources include:
Materials from the inaugural ePCT Training Workshop held in February 2018 to provide training to mid- and senior-level investigators interested in conducting ePCTs
A slide presentation of the NIH Collaboratory’s goals and organizational structure along with a brief introduction to each Demonstration Project
An infographic introducing the elements of the NIH Collaboratory program and the value of engaging in pragmatic research
A slide presentation and worksheet on essential things to think about and do when designing, conducting, and disseminating ePCTs
An introductory video from NIH Collaboratory leadership on the rationale and aims for the ePCT training resources
“The workshop reinforced that there is a demand for these kinds of training opportunities across the clinical research community.” Lesley Curtis, PhD
Kidney transplantation is the preferred treatment for patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD), but an insufficient organ supply renders dialysis the only viable treatment option for most patients. Though clinical outcomes among patients receiving dialysis have improved modestly in recent years, annual rates of hospitalization and mortality remain unacceptably high, and quality of life is poor. Poor outcomes are driven primarily by increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), but interventions that improve outcomes in the general population by targeting traditional CVD risk factors have mostly failed in patients with ESRD. Current clinical practice guidelines advocate aggressive treatment of high serum phosphate to near-normal levels using dietary phosphate binders and restrictive diets. The benefits of this approach, however, are unproven, the optimal serum phosphate target remains unknown, and potential harms of aggressive treatment have not been definitively identified.
The Pragmatic Trial of Higher vs. Lower Serum Phosphate Targets in Patients Undergoing Hemodialysis (HiLo) plans to address these clinically important questions in a large, pragmatic, cluster-randomized trial that will evaluate the effects of liberalizing the serum phosphate target (“Hi”) versus maintaining aggressive phosphate control (“Lo”) for patients receiving treatment with maintenance hemodialysis.
“The question at hand is something we grapple with on a daily basis in every dialysis facility across the country. Either answer will be important new information that will help us do a better job taking care of patients and hopefully improve their quality of life.”
HiLo is led by Myles Wolf, MD, of Duke University with support from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Read more about HiLo.
Because many clinicians do not have the skill set to engage patients in conversations about advance care planning (ACP), many older Americans with advanced cancer receive aggressive interventions at the end of life that do not reflect their values, goals, and preferences. The ACP PEACE trial is investigating whether a comprehensive approach to ACP improves patient outcomes. The program will combine two evidence-based complementary interventions: clinician communication skills training (VitalTalk) and patient video decision aids (ACP Decisions). The goal is to provide both patients and clinicians with communication skills and tools so they can make informed decisions about end-of-life care.
“We’re doing an intervention where we include videos for patients about what the possible interventions are, and we’re also training the clinicians, the oncologists and their teams to have better communication about their goals of care and about treatment planning.” —James Tulsky, MD, Co-Principal Investigator of the ACP PEACE trial.
ACP-PEACE is one of the new NIH Collaboratory Trials and is led by Drs. James A. Tulsky and Angelo Volandes with support from the National Institute on Aging. Read more about ACP PEACE.
Before the end of high school, more than half of all adolescents will use an illicit drug, about a quarter will meet the criteria for depression, and many others will engage in behaviors such as delinquency and violence. Guiding Good Choices is a universal evidence-based anticipatory guidance curriculum for parents of early adolescents that has been shown to reduce adolescent alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use; depression; and delinquent behavior. Evidence-based parenting interventions shown to prevent these behavioral health concerns could improve adolescent health trajectories if implemented widely in pediatric primary care.
Guiding Good Choices for Health (GCC4H): Testing Feasibility and Effectiveness of Universal Parent-Focused Prevention in Three Healthcare Systems is a cluster-randomized trial that will partner with pediatric primary care clinics to offer the training in three large, integrated healthcare systems serving socioeconomically diverse families.
“We already have an effective intervention, so we’re not trying to test whether it works or not; it’s really about getting the intervention into a population.”—Richard Catalano, PhD, co-Principal Investigator of the GGC4H trial.
GGC4H is led by Richard Catalano, PhD, Margaret Kuklinski, PhD, and Stacy Sterling, DrPH, with support from the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. Read more about GGC4H.
In a recent video interview, Dr. David Shurtleff, acting director of the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), discusses the unique work of the Collaboratory in bringing together multiple NIH Institutes and Centers to develop best practices, methods, guidance, and tools for conducting rigorous pragmatic research.
“The Collaboratory has been transformative in how it’s developed a novel, supportive infrastructure to conduct pragmatic research in a way that allows it to be embedded within healthcare systems.” David Shurtleff, PhD
Congratulations to Dr. Lynn DeBar and the investigators of the Collaborative Care for Chronic Pain in Primary Care pragmatic trial for recently publishing their study design paper. One of the NIH Collaboratory Trials, the trial is designed to test whether a primary care–based behavioral intervention the Pain Program for Active Coping and Training (PPACT)—will provide a “more effective, safer, and more satisfactory alternative to opioid-based chronic pain treatment” than usual care for patients on chronic opioid treatment (Debar et al 2018). Learn more about this innovative trial in the article in Contemporary Clinical Trials. You can also download a trial snapshot.
Full Citation: DeBar L, Benes L, Bonifay A, et al. Interdisciplinary team-based care for patients with chronic pain on long-term opioid treatment in primary care (PPACT) – Protocol for a pragmatic cluster randomized trial. Contemporary Clinical Trials. 2018;67:91-99. doi:10.1016/j.cct.2018.02.015
On February 20-21, 2018, a group of 27 clinical investigators met in Durham to learn from the NIH Collaboratory about the design and conduct of embedded pragmatic clinical trials (ePCTs). Through the experiences of the NIH Collaboratory, much has been learned about how to launch and implement successful ePCTs. The workshop’s goal was to help investigators advance their ePCT research ideas and build a larger community of researchers capable of conducting high-quality ePCTs. Participants from across the country were selected based on a rigorous application process.
“ePCTS hold the promise of an efficient and powerful way to generate evidence. We’ve learned so much through the Collaboratory, but the knowledge is not helpful if we’re not passing it along to other clinical investigators so they can contribute even more evidence to the knowledge base,” said Kevin Weinfurt, PhD, a co-principal investigator of the NIH Collaboratory’s Coordinating Center who helped develop and organize the workshop along with a planning committee.
Representatives from the Coordinating Center, NIH Collaboratory Trials, and Core Groups were on hand to provide information, guidance, and lessons learned from their experience with the NIH Collaboratory ePCTs. The topics included an introduction to ePCTs, engaging stakeholders and aligning with healthcare system partners, designing with implementation in mind, design and analytic considerations, regulatory and ethical challenges, measuring outcomes, dissemination, and ePCT team composition. Representatives from the NIH were also in attendance and presented sessions about the importance of pilot and feasibility testing and developing a compelling application for funding. During the workshop, participants completed hands-on exercises and worked through trial design challenges with the experts and their colleagues.
Wendy Weber, ND, PhD, MPH, Acting Deputy Director of the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), presenting on pilot and feasibility testing in ePCTs.
“We’re trying to change the world, and to change the world you need generalizable data and interventions that are scalable. The chasm for implementation of clinical evidence is huge, and PCTs have the capacity to take great interventions and get them to the patients so that they can have impact and improve care,” said Wendy Weber, ND, PhD, MPH, acting deputy director of the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), and one of the workshop presenters. “While local improvements can be accomplished through quality improvement activities, if you have outcomes that matter, randomizing interventions and studying them on a large scale can provide the evidence that will make a real difference in the care of people across the United States.”
Another goal of the workshop was to pilot the educational materials and collect feedback on their quality and appropriateness from both attendees and subject matter experts. The Collaboratory Coordinating Center will use the feedback to refine the content for future workshops and educational materials. The NIH Collaboratory’s Living Textbook provided a foundation for much of the workshop, and a host of new information was presented that can be used in future materials and updates to the textbook.
The training was funded as an NIH Roadmap Initiative 3U54AT007748-05S2.
The NIH Collaboratory will soon welcome a new group of NIH Collaboratory Trials and guide them through the piloting and implementation phases of their embedded pragmatic clinical trials (ePCTs). We asked three seasoned principal investigators—Drs. Laura Dember, MD (TiME), Lynn DeBar, PhD (PPACT), and Jerry Jarvik, MD, MPH (LIRE)—to share tips and advice for investigators who are new to ePCTs.
In the spring of 2018, the NIH Collaboratory will be welcoming a new set of NIH Collaboratory Trials and will help shepherd the new pragmatic trials through the piloting and implementation phases of their studies. In a new video in the Living Textbook, two of our seasoned principal investigators—Drs. Susan Huang and Gloria Coronado—give advice to the newcomers and other investigators new to conducting pragmatic trials.
“My greatest advice is to gain partners who are operational and have insight into particular areas—whether they be hospitals, or clinics, or nursing homes—who know about how they really work, how to best incorporate the intervention into workflow, how to get the right approvals, and how to get the best information technology support available to them.”—Susan Huang, MD
“One of the key things that we’ve received from being part of the Collaboratory—compared to an R01 grant—is the opportunity to interact across all of the institutes at NIH as well as learn about other projects that are working in pretty diverse health systems, including hospital systems, nursing homes, and dialysis centers.” —Gloria Coronado, PhD
We recently asked Dr. Kevin Weinfurt, Chair of the Patient-Reported Outcomes (PRO) Core, to reflect on the first 5 years of the Core’s work and the challenges ahead. He says the biggest impact of the Core has been working with national initiatives to improve inclusion of PROs in the electronic health record (EHR). Further, Core members have contributed to new knowledge through white papers and chapters in the Living Textbook. In the coming years, he’s hoping the Core will be able to identify the value proposition of PROs.
“Because there are costs associated with collecting PROs, we need to determine when PROS are essential, supporting, or not at all informative for the clinical questions. This gets at the value proposition: When are they of value and to whom?” —Dr. Kevin Weinfurt.
One of the 
