New evidence on management and leadership

"Public concern about patient care has highlighted uncertainties about the current role and nature of managers in today’s NHS. This digest presents key findings from fourteen new studies on leadership and management practice."

New evidence on management and leadership
Health Services and Delivery Research Programme
National Institute for Health Research
December 2013

Read more here.

Evidence-based de-implementation for contradicted, unproven, and aspiring healthcare practices

"De-implementing practices reflects a recommitment to evidence-based healthcare. This is important for medications, devices, procedures, behavioral or psychological interventions, screening and diagnostic tests, and any other intervention undertaken by people in the health professions."

Evidence-based de-implementation for contradicted, unproven, and aspiring healthcare practices
V Prasad, JPA Ioannidis
Implementation Science, 2014, 9:1

Read more here.

Engaging with individual patients

"Part of the Smart Guides to Engagement series, this guide helps clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and service providers to enable and support the engagement of individuals with healthcare services."

Smart guides to engagement: Engaging with individual patients
D Redding
NHS Networks
December 2013

Read more here.

Four principles for a better public sector

"Innovative governments are making it easier for citizens to access public services."

Government by design: four principles for a better public sector
D Farrell, A Goodman
McKinsey & Company
December 2013

Read more here.

Systematic reviews for informing policy decisions

"This guide is a short introduction for decision-makers and researchers or anyone else considering whether a systematic review may be appropriate to fill a gap in knowledge or to use as a resource. It will help anybody planning on commissioning a review of what research is already out there. You may be an analyst, evaluator, policymaker or commissioner."

Learning from research: systematic reviews for informing policy decisions
D Gough, S Oliver, J Thomas
Alliance for Useful Evidence
EPPI-Centre, Social Science Research Unit, Institute of Education, University of London
December 2013

Read more here.

Introduction of new technologies and decision making processes

"Introducing new health technologies, including medical devices, into a local setting in a safe, effective, and transparent manner is a complex process, involving many disciplines and players within an organization."

Introduction of new technologies and decision making processes: a framework to adapt a Local Health Technology Decision Support Program for other local settings
P Poulin, L Austen, CM Scott, M Poulin, N Gall, J Seidel, R Lafreniere
Medical Devices: Evidence and Research, 2013, 6:185-193

Read more here.

Measuring the impact of caregiving on informal carers

"The CarerQol can be used in informal care research and economic evaluations of health care interventions. Hence, its use can facilitate informed decision making in health care."

Measuring the impact of caregiving on informal carers: a construct validation study of the CarerQol instrument
RJ Hoefman, J van Exel, Werner BF Brouwer
Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, 2013, 11:173

Read more here.

Knowledge translation strategies to improve the use of evidence in public health decision making in local government

This knowledge translation intervention "provides significant insights into how practitioners might engage with evidence in public health decision making."

Knowledge translation strategies to improve the use of evidence in public health decision making in local government: intervention design and implementation plan
R Armstrong, et al.
Implementation Science, 2013, 8:121

Read more here.

A National Health Service for patients

"This paper proposes that Patient-led Commissioning Groups (PCGs) be allowed to set up alongside existing Clinical Commissioning Groups, in order to establish the accountability of the NHS to patients and the public."

A National Health Service for patients
A Howes
Civitas
September 2013

Read more here.

Health Profiles

"Health Profiles provide summary health information to support local authority members, officers and community partners to lead for health improvement."

Access the Health Profiles here.

Transforming participation in health and care

"This guide will help clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and other commissioners of health and care services to involve:

• patients and carers in decisions relating to care and treatment
• the public in commissioning processes and decisions."

Transforming participation in health and care
NHS England
September 2013

Read more here.

The role of evidence in policy formation and implementation

"Effective decision-making requires good advice, and that depends on informed use of evidence both in developing policy and in evaluating its effect once implemented."

The role of evidence in policy formation and implementation
Office of the Prime Minister's Science Advisory Committee
September 2013

Read more here.

The time is ripe for evidence-based child policy in the EU

"This brief discusses some of the reasons why decisionmakers in the field of child policy in the EU may wish to employ evidence-based resources to support decisions."

The time is ripe for evidence-based child policy in the EU
RAND Europe
August 2013

Read more here.

Systems to facilitate evidence-informed decision-making

"Some of the identified supports may increase the use of research evidence by decision-makers, which may then lead to more informed decisions, and hopefully to a strengthened health system and improved health."

What supports do health system organizations have in place to facilitate evidence-informed decision-making? a qualitative study
ME Ellen, G Leon, G Bouchard, JN Lavis, M Ouimet, JM Grimshaw
Implementation Science, 2013, 8:84

Read more here.

Consultant treatment outcomes

"On this page there are links to information about individual consultants in a number of clinical areas. It includes results for a range of operations and treatments to help people make decisions about their care. The data show where the clinical outcomes for each consultant sit against the national average."

Access the data here.

Addressing the 'postcode lottery' in local resource allocation decisions

"This paper reports on how the National Prescribing Centre competency framework was developed, and presents a potentially transferable methodology for advancing a competency framework to support individual and organisational learning and improvement."

Addressing the 'postcode lottery' in local resource allocation decisions: a framework for clinical commissioning groups
J Russell, T Greenhalgh, H Lewis, I MacKenzie, N Maskrey, J Montgomery, C O'Donnell
Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 2013, 106(4):120-123

Read more here.

Patient-reported outcomes in meta-analyses

"Systematic reviews and meta-analyses of randomized trials that include patient-reported outcomes (PROs) often provide crucial information for patients and clinicians facing challenging health care decisions. "

Patient-reported outcomes in meta-analyses - Part 1: assessing risk of bias and combining outcomes
BC Johnston, DL Patrick, JW Busse, HJ Schunemann, A Agarwal, GH Guyatt
Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, 2013, 11:109

Read more here.

Explaining health managers' information seeking behaviour and use

"Managers are overwhelmed with too much information of various types and quality, yet often cannot find the information they need."

Explaining health managers' information seeking behaviour and use: final report
C Edwards, R Fox, S Gillard, S Gourlay, P Guven, C Jackson, M Chambers, V Drennan
National Institute for Health Research Service Delivery and Organisation Programme
May 2013

Read the full report here.

Improving the management of wait times

"From this systematic review of 47 articles, we were able to identify key factors influencing Wait Time Management Systems, especially for implementation."

Toward systematic reviews to understand the determinants of wait time management success to help decision-makers and managers better manage wait times
MP Pomey, PG Forest, C Sanmartin, C DeCoster, N Clavel, E Warren, M Drew, T Noseworthy
Implementation Science, 2013, 8:61

Read more here.

Getting research into practice in occupational health

"It appears that current practice in occupational health in the healthcare sector is not solidly grounded in evidence-based decision-making and strategies should be developed to improve this."

Bridging the gap between the economic evaluation literature and daily practice in occupational health: a qualitative study among decision-makers in the healthcare sector
JM van Dongen, E Tompa, L Clune, A Sarnocinska-Hart, PM Bongers, MW van Tulder, AJ van der Beek, MF van Wier
Implementation Science, 2013, 8:57

Read more here.