Electrophysical agents: from bench to bedside and back again

‘Bench to bedside’ describes translational research involving a pathway from basic science research to clinical application. Initially used in pharmaceutical development, discoveries in the basic sciences were tested by ‘proof of concept’ studies before large scale clinical trials were conducted.1 The final step involved assessing effectiveness through health service research. However, this model has been criticised for resulting in limited clinical outcomes due to a lack of common purpose and communication between basic scientists at one end of the pipeline and patients and clinicians at the other.