Clinical research is a priority for emergency medicine but how do we make it happen, and do it well?

In this issue, Keijzers et al. present a survey of emergency physicians from the ACEM researcher database, aiming to inform a strategic research agenda specific to multicentre clinical research.[1] The majority of respondents had postgraduate degrees and/or academic titles, so the results are likely to reflect the pet topics of researchers and cannot be assumed to fairly represent the needs of clinicians and patients. The views of our academic workforce are important, but there is a risk that failing to engage clinicians and the main clinical problems they face will lead to their further disenfranchisement from the research endeavour and make multicentre clinical trials even harder to do.