Welcome to the IDEAL Collaboration

The IDEAL Collaboration is an initiative to improve the quality of research in surgery and complex interventions to build up a robust evidence base about new procedures and devices. The Collaboration has developed and continues to develop the IDEAL Framework for improving research in surgery, devices and non-pharmacological interventions. The Collaboration wishes to engage with all stakeholders involved in surgical and complex interventions research.

About us

The IDEAL Framework

The IDEAL Framework describes the stages through which surgical therapy innovation normally passes, describing the characteristics of each of five stages: Idea, Development, Exploration, Assessment and Long-term follow-up.

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Why we need the IDEAL Framework

Peter McCulloch talks about how we can sometimes get carried away with the enthusiasm and commercial imperatives for new surgical technologies. Such "enthusiasm bias" needs to be tempered with a rigorous framework for the evaluation of the effects of these technologies.

Explore the framework

Advisory service for designing studies in surgery or therapeutic devices

This free service is for clinicians and scientists doing research as part of a grant-funded research project, or as an unfunded service improvement.

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Latest news and discussion

24 October 2024

IDEAL 2025 Conference in Houston Texas

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Robotic Surgery team, by Army Medicine, licensed under CC BY 2.0

Join the IDEAL Collaboration

The IDEAL Collaboration thrives through an international network of clinicians, researchers, policymakers and members of the public. We need your help to improve the quality of research. Please click below to find out more about how you can get involved.

Membership of IDEAL

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