Conducting International Research: Overcoming Problems, Avoiding Pitfalls, and Reaping the Rewards
Debra K. Moser, DNSc, RN, College of Nursing, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA
The purpose of this presentation is to provide insights into the challenges and rewards of conducting multicenter research in the international arena. In addition, solutions to common problems will be presented, as will pitfalls to avoid. International research is the wave of the future. No longer can we be concerned only with our local problems. As Walker James states, “For humanitarian reasons we must always remember that that the world’s problems are our problems; for selfish reasons we would also do well to always remember that health crises no longer stay in remote parts of the world”. By the year 2020, cardiac disease will be the number one cause of death worldwide, not just in so-called developed countries. In part, this will occur because of failure to consider cardiac disease an international problem. We have conducted a number of cardiac studies in an international sample that included Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Thailand, Japan, South Korea, and the United States. These studies have focused on two major areas: 1) describing patient delay in seeking treatment for acute coronary syndrome (ACS) symptoms and testing an intervention to decrease patient delay; and 2) the impact of anxiety on recovery after acute myocardial infarction. We have enrolled more than 4000 participants in these studies. In doing so, we have refined techniques for optimizing: 1) long distance and inter-language communication among investigators; 2) fidelity in protocol administration; 3) rigor in data collection and management; 4) delivery of data to a central site; 5) study problem-solving; 6) data analysis and interpretation; and 7) equitable authorship on presentations and papers. This presentation will highlight these techniques.