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Life and death decisions: A statistician on a data monitoring and ethics committee
Author(s) -
Campbell Mike
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
significance
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.123
H-Index - 21
eISSN - 1740-9713
pISSN - 1740-9705
DOI - 10.1111/j.1740-9713.2005.00112.x
Subject(s) - statistician , privilege (computing) , honour , ethics committee , clinical trial , select committee , research ethics , law , engineering ethics , operations research , medicine , political science , engineering , public administration , pathology , commons
It has recently been suggested that many clinical trials should have a data monitoring and ethics committee, and that on this committee should be a statistician. Such committees are attached to individual trials and are distinct from local ethics committees, which are not required to have a statistician and are not concerned solely with trials. Given the plethora of trials, there will be increasing demand for statisticians to sit on these committees. Although it is both an honour and a privilege, Mike Campbell warns that membership should not be undertaken lightly.