The Subarachnoid Haemorrhage in the Emergency Department (SHED) study recruited more than 3,000 patients with acute severe headache and involved 88 emergency departments across the UK.
The NCA-sponsored study was mainly carried out by non-academic emergency medicine trainees, supported by the Trainee Emergency Research Network (TERN) and the Royal College of Emergency Medicine. NCA’s Professor Daniel Horner was the Chief Investigator.
The involvement of TERN, the clinical relevance of the research question and pragmatic design of the study were all key to encouraging busy trainees to support the study. The team also used a novel opt out consent model to maximise recruitment and SHED was adopted onto the NIHR portfolio (trauma and emergency care), which allowed hospitals to involve local research delivery teams.
The results showed a very low likelihood of SAH after a negative CT-brain scan performed early after headache onset and made recommendations for future research in this field. The work has been published in the Emergency Medicine Journal, alongside an expert commentary and several national podcasts:
- Ep 250 – Monthly Round Up September 2024 – Patient Experience in the ED, Dirty Adrenaline, and More! | The St Emlyn’s Podcast
- Ep 243 – The Subarachnoid Haemorrhage in Emergency Department (SHED) Study | The St Emlyn’s Podcast
- Papers of October 2024 – The Resus Room
- September 2024 – RCEMLearning