National Audit of the Management of Encephalitis
**UPDATE 13/11/24**
The project has finished and has been written up. The write-up is currently going through revisions. NITCAR are not involved in actively following this project up following completion. Please contact project leads directly for follow up questions.
Project Status:
OPEN to enrolment – Following the opportunity to present our audit proposal to the NITCAR AGM, and the acceptance of that by the Committee and trainees, we are pleased to now be open for enrolment. We are on-boarding sites as of week commencing 19th October 2020. We are keen to progress the data collection and welcome early interest.
What?
This is a national audit of the management of encephalitis in UK hospitals, led by the University of Liverpool Brain Infections Group, Group Head, Professor Tom Solomon. We are a well-established Group and authors of the national guidelines, both for adults (Solomon et al., 2012) and children (Kneen et al., 2012). The audit will examine adherence to these guidelines during the period since. Our hope is to recruit at least 40 sites. Trainees would be asked to gather data from case records, for each year between 2012-2019, and submit those via REDCap. The results will be published, likely in a high-impact journal, and will feed into possible revision of the guidelines. All who contribute data collection to this project will receive due acknowledgement in the paper authorship.
Why?
The ultimate aim of the project is to promote the appropriate and most effective management of patients with suspected encephalitis who present to UK hospitals. We will achieve this by reviewing the effectiveness of our existing guidelines and reviewing/revising them in light of that. The work may also prompt further development of our existing Continued Professional Development offer, which seeks to enhance understanding of brain infections and their proper management. This is an appropriate time for such a review of the existing guidelines: they have been in place for 8 years and in recent years one smaller-scale study has suggested that there is limited adherence. In addition, the findings will inform an Impact Case Study for REF2021, focused on the work of the University of Liverpool Brain Infections Group.
Who?
Any medical student or doctor currently working in the UK is invited to participate.
When?
We aim to have data collection well-progressed by early 2021.
Prizes
All sites enrolled will be entered into our NAME prize draw.
1stprize: Free place on the NeuroID course for trainee and Consultant.
2ndprize: ‘Case Studies in Neurological Infections of Adults and Children’, T. Solomon, B. Michael, A. Miller, & R. Kneen (Eds.), 2019, CUP.
3rdprize: ‘Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Medicine’, T. Solomon, 2016, LUP.
How do I get involved?
We will be pleased to hear from any potentially interested trainees. Please express your interest by emailing interest@name.nitcollaborative.org.uk
Your email will then be responded to by one of the project delivery team:
Project coordinator: Dr Rebecca Davies
Clinical team project members: Dr Sylviane Defres; Dr Glynn Webb (led by Professor Tom Solomon)
We will then need to seek authorisation from your site.
We look forward to hearing from you!