Evidence based practice updates - 25 October 2012

New guidelines, research and other tools and updates on evidence based techniques and processes from across the UK. For more information about this theme see Quality and Safety e-Bulletin: evidence based practice.

Some of the resources linked to are in PDF format - see how to access PDF files.

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ): Progestogens for prevention of preterm birth. A new research review from the AHRQ in America finds that that there is moderate evidence that progestogen treatments such as 17 alpha-hydroxyprogesterone caproate (17-OHP) prevent pre-term birth when used for women who are having only one child and who have a history of spontaneous preterm birth. 

BBC: Exercising in your 70s 'may stop brain shrinkage'. "Exercising in your 70s may stop your brain from shrinking and showing the signs of ageing linked to dementia, say experts from Edinburgh University."

BioMed Central: Accessing BioMed Central from mobile devices. BioMed Central portals and journal websites have been updated so that users on smartphones or tablets have an enhanced experience when viewing full text articles, making better use of small screen sizes and touch-screen functionality. Further mobile optimizations are to be rolled out in the coming months.

BMC Public Health: Emergency management in health: key issues and challenges in the UK. This study examined the evidence-base and evidence requirements for emergency planning in the UK health context as "deficiencies in NHS emergency planning were identified and the evidence that underpins it is questionable. Inconsistencies in terminologies and concepts also exist". As a result of the study four thematic categories for future research emerged.

Department for Education: Implementing evidence-based programmes in children's services: key issues for success. This report brings together the latest international thinking about the key issues relating to the implementation of evidence-based programmes, utilising both published work and expert opinion. The aim is to provide a summary of issues that should be considered and planned for by those about to start implementing a new programme in order to increase the chances of success.

Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (DHSSPS): Poots provides commitment of support for R&D in Northern Ireland. Health Minister Edwin Poots has welcomed commitment of close to GBP5million of assistance being made available to attract innovation and technology aimed at improving patient healthcare in Northern Ireland. 

DH: Latest topics referred to NICE: July 2012. Technology appraisal topics which Department of Health ministers agreed to refer to the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) in July, to begin the process of developing guidance for each topic.

Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC): Use of NICE appraised medicines in the NHS 2010-11. NICE technology appraisal process assesses the clinical and cost effectiveness of new and existing drugs and treatments, and provides guidance on their use by the NHS. The NHS Information Centre (HSCIC) was asked to produce a bulletin looking at variation in the use of these medicines in relation to the number of eligible patients as estimated by NICE. In all 52 medicines in 25 groups, relating to 35 technology appraisals, were considered.
News: NICE-appraised medicines: new report shows apparent variation in use across NHS.
NICE: NHS prescribing high numbers of NICE-approved drugs.

Health Foundation: Research scan – September 2012. Latest scan of more than 40,000 journals for important studies about improving quality in health care.

Health Research Authority: HRA Ethics Officer Pilot. The Health Research Authority is conducting a pilot to consider whether the introduction of ethics officers, providing a number of functions including early assessment of an application and study documentation and the early provision of advice, can improve favourable opinion rates and thus reduce timelines and the administrative burden on researchers and committees.

Implementation Science: Writing implementation research grant proposals: Ten key ingredients. “Every investigator struggles with the challenge of fitting into a page-limited application the research background, methodological detail, and information that can convey the project's feasibility and likelihood of success. While no application can include a high level of detail about every ingredient, addressing the ten ingredients summarized in this article can help assure reviewers of the significance, feasibility, and impact of the proposed research.” 

Implementation Science: Managing boundaries in primary care service improvement: A developmental approach to communities of practice. “Effective implementation of change in healthcare organisations involves multiple professional and organisational groups and is often impeded by professional and organisational boundaries that present relatively impermeable barriers to sharing knowledge and spreading work practices. Informed by the theory of communities of practice (CoPs), this study explored the effects of intra-organisational and inter-organisational boundaries on the implementation of service improvement within and across primary healthcare settings and on the development of multiprofessional and multi-organisational CoPs during this process.” 

Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR): Conducting Research on the Internet: Medical Record Data Integration with Patient-Reported Outcomes. “The growth in the number of patients seeking health information online has given rise to new direct-to-patient research methods, including direct patient recruitment and study conduct without use of physician sites. While such patient-centric designs offer time and cost efficiencies, the absence of physician-reported data is a key concern, with potential impact on both scientific rigor and operational feasibility.” 

NICE Clinical guidelines: Psoriasis: the assessment and management of psoriasis (CG153). This clinical guideline offers evidence-based advice on the assessment and management of psoriasis in adults, young people and children.
NICE recommends that GPs and other healthcare professionals should assess the severity and impact the condition has on a person at first presentation, and before referral for specialist advice. This assessment should cover the impact the disease has on the physical, psychological and social wellbeing of those with the condition. The severity of disease should also be assessed, as should the presence of comorbid conditions.
NICE Pathways: Psoriasis overview. Provides quick access to NICE guidance.
News: Impact of psoriasis is more than skin deep.

NICE Public health guidance: Social and emotional wellbeing - early years (PH40). This guidance aims to define how the social and emotional wellbeing of vulnerable children aged under 5 years can be supported through home visiting, childcare and early education. The term ‘vulnerable’ is used to describe children who are at risk of, or who are already experiencing, social and emotional problems and need additional support.
NICE Pathways: Social and emotional wellbeing for children and young people overview. Quick, easy summary view of the guidance.
News. Help vulnerable children get the best start in life.

NICE Evidence summaries: unlicensed/off-label medicines: Significant haemorrhage following trauma: tranexamic acid (ESUOM1). This is the first topic to be covered as part of the new service to provide high quality medicines and prescribing information to the NHS and patients in England relating to unlicensed and off-label medicines. 'Evidence summaries: unlicensed/off-label medicines' do not constitute NICE guidance but this information from NICE will help to avoid potential duplication of effort where, currently, different NHS organisations produce similar products for their own local use. 

NICE: NICE Tobacco Return on Investment Tool. The Tobacco Return on Investment Tool has been developed to help decision making in tobacco control at local and sub-national levels. The tool evaluates a portfolio of tobacco control interventions and models the economic returns that can be expected in different payback timescales. Different interventions, including pharmacotherapies and support and advice, can be mixed and matched to see which intervention portfolio or package provides the best 'value for money', compared with 'no-services' or any other specified package.
NICE: New NICE tool helps local government count the cost of smoking.

Scottish Government: Care and Support for Adult Victims of Trafficking in Human Beings: A Review. This provides an overview of the identified care and support needs of victims of different forms of human trafficking exploitation; considers good practice in recent adult victim care by identifying different models of care and support in a range of jurisdictions; and considers the extent to which existing evidence is able to provide an indication of what works to meet the needs of different victims. It also considers how effectively the needs of different adult victims of trafficking are met in Scotland, on the basis of review of international evidence; and highlights any existing gaps in services and support provision.

University of Oxford podcasts:
‘Lack of evidence’ that popular sports products work. Consumers could be wasting their money on sports drinks, protein shakes and high-end trainers, according to a new joint investigation by BBC Panorama and the British Medical Journal. Dr Carl Heneghan of Kellogg College, University of Oxford, explains his findings.
Would you blog the truth? Peter Gill discusses the power of the blog for knowledge exchange and communicating the truth behind health research findings to wider audiences.