RESEARCHERS TOOLKIT

The AO Spine RECODE-DCM group brought together a multistakeholder collective to create a “Research Toolkit”.

In order for research to be efficient and effective, scientists need the right tools for the job. In the same way that standardised tools facilitate practical work by multiple collaborators (e.g. in the building industry), standardised research tools can equip scientists with the tools to make their studies robust, comparable, and focused on the outcomes that matter most for people with DCM.

There are three components to the AO Spine RECODE-DCM Research Toolkit:

1. The Top 10 Research Priorities, identified as the most important research questions.

2. A minimum dataset, to standardise outcome measures, making future studies robust and comparable.

3. An index term and definition for DCM, to enable researchers to speak a common language across the globe.

Acknowledgements

None of this would have been possible without the support of AO Spine. We wholeheartedly thank them for kickstarting this important initiative.