The Michigan Risk Score - in Brazil!

Prof Eneida Rejane Rabelo da Silva, RN, ScD

About the Author:

Prof Eneida Rejane Rabelo da Silva is a researcher and investigator at the Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre and the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. She runs a large research group from this institution that has focused on a number of topics, including risk prediction and validation of clinical models. She is partnering with a number of Brazilian hospitals to create a network of hospitals engaged in PICC research.

Validation of the Michigan Risk Score for use in Brazil - A Multicenter Study

We are delighted to conduct this multi-center study in Brazil with the partnership of Prof. Dr. Vineet Chopra, from the University of Michigan, who was responsible for the development of the Michigan Risk Score (MRS). The MRS aims to estimate and predict risk of Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter (PICC)-related thrombosis. Although the score was developed and internally validated, it has not yet been externally validated. In fact, in Brazil, no tool to estimate the risk of PICC thrombosis currently exists. Therefore, in this study, we propose to externally validate the MRS and evaluate its applicability to the population in Brazil. 

We will conduct this study in 23 institutions in Brazil, with representation from all of the 5 major regions of the country (Figure). All participating center have agreed to developing a dedicated team to this project, members of whom will be responsible for data collection. All researchers will use a standard protocol for data collection and will be trained by the coordinating center prior to starting the study. In order to ensure ongoing collaboration of this group to continue to study more vascular access questions. All of the principal investigators (PI) are registered in a PICC-BRAZILIAN RESEARCH GROUP 
(http://dgp.cnpq.br/dgp/espelhogrupo/2184405437599410).

This group will not only collaborate for this project, but can now engage in other projects moving forward. The researcher responsible for this project in Brazil is Prof. Eneida Rejane Rabelo da Silva, RN, ScD
(CV: http://buscatextual.cnpq.br/buscatextual/visualizacv.do?id=K4701295A6) with her research group from the Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre and the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. We estimate that we will be able to accrue a sample size of 24,150 patients (including 5% of losses) in order to validate the MRS score. We propose to collect these data for analysis over an 18-month window.