How are we looking into this?
Reviewing historical data
Archived data from 2016 to 2023 will be examined. This means that the event has already occurred, and the data has already been recorded as part of the care received at the time.
Using data from multiple hospitals
To explore the question properly, the study needs to include approximately 600 children and young people. This means that data from multiple hospitals will be used to achieve these numbers and to ensure the results aren't just a reflection of how children and young people are treated at one particular hospital.
The hospital teams will anonymise all data
The local hospital teams will review the data before passing it on to the research teams. This involves going through a process of anonymising the data. This includes removing any identifiable details, and also involves providing only the information that is relevant to answering the research question.
The researchers won't be able to identify any individuals
The researchers will not be able to identify any individual patients. Even if the injury was so rare or unusual that it made the news, the data will be anonymised in a way that the researchers will not be able to link this to the data.
Anonymous data will be pooled to try and answer the research question
In addition to the data being anonymised, it will also be pooled together to answer the question. For example, how many children and young people have low calcium levels? What proportion with low calcium had a low blood pressure compared to those with normal calcium levels?
Findings will be published to help improve our understanding of this question
Publishing findings allows other researchers to learn from the results. This might change how we understand calcium in injured children and young people and might help us to think about how we can improve their care.