Dr Jonathan Peter Evans

About me:

Having worked in the NHS for nearly 20 years, I have encountered the profound impact health services research has on my daily practice. Inspired by this, I have made clinical research an integrated part of my work as a Trauma and Orthopaedic surgeon.

Currently, I split my time between my medical practice as a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon at the Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, and as a Senior Academic Clinical Lecturer at the University of Exeter. In 2018 I completed my doctoral research assessing contemporary study designs in elbow tendinopathy.

I have a particular interest in the use of Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) as a method to quantify and interpret how surgical management affects patients' lives. My research in this area is focused on the use of advanced Computer Adaptive Tests (CATs), whereby we are attempting to use a small number of patient-specific questions to accurately assess the impact of their medical problem. In 2024 I co-organised the 8th National Patient Reported Outcome Measures Conference here in Exeter.  

As part of the orthopaedic research group I am involved in the design and running of clinical trials in orthopaedics. Most recently these have focuesed on the use of patient specific rehabilitation programmes to optimise treatment pathways. 

I have also been involved in a portfolio of studies assessing the survival of joints replacements. Our work on hip and knee, shoulder and elbow replacements has sought to evaluate how long a joint replacement can be expected to last. The results have been published as open access articles in The Lancet, The Lancet Rheumatology and Acta Orthopaedica.

Interests:

My research interests are focused around interventions in trauma and orthopaedic surgery and health and policy research

Ongoing research interests;

Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs)

Assessing the cross-cultural adaptation of the PROMIS system for use in UK populations.

PROMs registry analysis in joint arthroplasty.

The patient focussed impact of medical and surgical interventions on shoulder and elbow pathology.

Shoulder Research 

The use of the UK Biobank to identify phenotypic and genetic associations with frozen shoulder. Research funded by the British Elbow and Shoulder 2024

Elbow Research 

Hemiarthroplasty Or Total elbow replacement for trauma (HOT trial): A feasibility trial assessing the utilisation of partial or full elbow replacement for unreconstructable elbow fractures.

The validation of Core-outcome sets in elbow pathology

The feasibility of surgical trials in elbow tendinopathy. 

Qualifications:

BSc (Hons), MB ChB, MSc, MD (Res), FRCS (Tr & Orth)