Recruitment failure in early neonatal research

Rates of neurodevelopmental handicap are high among extremely low birthweight survivors, and the first 48 postnatal hours probably give the greatest opportunity for preventing damage. However, at this time, families are in turmoil and may have difficulty in coming to terms with a small baby in intensive care. We recently had to abandon an observational, non-invasive study because of practical difficulties arising from the new Research Governance Framework,1 and we would like to share this experience, and its implications, with the research community. We needed parental consent for …