THE Departments of Pharmacology and Biostatistics of the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Nagpur, jointly organised a one-and-a-half-day hands-on workshop on Randomised Controlled Trials (RCTs). The workshop was inaugurated by Prof. (Dr) Prashant P. Joshi, Executive Director and CEO, AIIMS Nagpur. In his inaugural address, Dr Joshi highlighted the need for RCTs in generating robust evidence to guide clinical practice. He also spoke about situations where RCTs cannot be conducted. Thirty-four participants attended the workshop. The programme aimed to build capacity in designing, conducting and reporting rigorous clinical trials.

 

Day one focused on understanding and designing an RCT, with sessions on technical and ethical aspects, outcome measures, trial designs, sample size calculation and protocol development. Day two addressed statistical analysis, quality indicators for trial conduct and management, and the reporting and publication of RCTs. Dr Ganesh Dakhale, Professor and Head, Department of Pharmacology, served as Organising Chairman. Dr Narendra Kumar Tiwary, Additional Professor and In-charge, Department of Biostatistics, was Organising Co-Chairman. Dr Anant Khot and Dr Vishwajeet Singh were the Organising Secretary and Joint Organising Secretary respectively. Dr Chaitali Chindhalore and Dr Snehlata Gajbhiye from the Department of Pharmacology joined the organising team as resource faculty for the workshop.