Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 26, 2026

Remotely Supervised Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation: An Update on Safety and Tolerability
Published on: October 7, 2017
RCTs in complex nursing interventions and laboratory experimental studies
David A Richards1, Jan P H Hamers
1Mood Disorders Centre, School of Psychology, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4QG, United Kingdom. d.a.richards@exeter.ac.uk
Abstract:
The randomised controlled trial (RCT) is at the heart of the evidence-based medicine movement and by implication should also be central to evidence-based nursing. One objection to RCTs in nursing science is that nursing is too complex an activity to be subjected to a carefully controlled experimental paradigm. We suggest that this argument is false and use examples from complex interventions research in nursing and experimental laboratory methods to demonstrate that RCTs can bring much needed clarity to the search for nursing knowledge.
Related Concept Videos
Nursing Interventions II: Selecting and Classifying the Nursing Interventions
Types of Biopharmaceutical Studies: Controlled and Non-Controlled Approaches
Non-controlled studies, commonly employed for initial exploration, lack a control group, rendering them susceptible to biases and external influences. In contrast, controlled...
Nursing Interventions I: Taxonomy of Nursing Interventions
A nursing intervention is a treatment or action based on scientific concepts and knowledge from the nursing, behavioral, and physical sciences. Identifying and prioritizing nursing interventions based on the desired outcome is...
Bioequivalence Experimental Study Designs: Repeated Measures, Cross-Over, Carry-Over, and Latin Square Designs
Radiological Investigation I: X-ray and CT
Crossover Experiments
Crossover designs are performed even with smaller sample sizes since the samples can act as their controls. These are better than simple randomized trials since patients are exposed to all the treatments.
