Journal of evaluation in clinical practice
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Clinical practice guidelines (CPG) were introduced to summarize the best scientific evidence available. Thereby, CPG were meant to support evidence-based medicine (EBM). However, besides evidence, EBM also asks for patients' preferences and physicians' experiences to be considered when coming to therapeutic decisions. Thus, deviations from CPG recommendations are sometimes necessary when practicing EBM. We wanted to examine whether CPG support deviations from their recommendations when appropriate. For operationalization, we asked whether absolute effect sizes (AES) for benefit and/or harm of suggested therapies were provided along with the respective CPG recommendation. ⋯ Current CPG on T2DM and CCHD do not sufficiently offer AES for benefits and harms of recommended therapies. Thus, they lack satisfactory information to support deviations from CPG recommendations. Consequently, CPG in their present form do not adequately facilitate EBM.
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To discuss the study design and data analysis for three-phase interrupted time series (ITS) studies to evaluate the impact of health policy, systems, or environmental interventions. Simulation methods are used to conduct power and sample size calculation for these studies. ⋯ This article provides a convenient tool for investigators to generate sample sizes to ensure sufficient statistical power when three-phase ITS study design is implemented.
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Care pathway policies for cancer aim to reduce variation and improve the quality of patient care, and there is increasing evidence that adherence to such pathways is associated with improved survival and lower health care costs. Australia is implementing Optimal Care Pathways (OCPs) for several cancers, including colorectal cancer, but studies evaluating how well care conforms to OCP recommendations are rare. This study examined concordance between OCP recommendations and colorectal cancer care prior to policy rollout and disparities for vulnerable populations. ⋯ Prior to implementation, a significant proportion of colorectal cancer patients received care that did not meet OCP recommendations. Low concordance and inequities for rural and disadvantaged populations highlight components of the pathway to target during policy implementation.
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Increasing the appropriateness of prescribing has long been a focus of government, non-government, and professional organizations. Progress towards this is made difficult by the fact appropriate prescribing remains inconsistently defined and is the subject of ongoing intense disagreement. In this study, we attempted to understand why this is the case within the context of oncology and haematology. ⋯ These values cannot be ranked a priori, and therefore, any definition of appropriate prescribing must be aligned with what communities want from their health system. When one value is privileged over another in any specific context, a compelling argument must be provided to justify the choice. In an era of shared decision making, patient rights, and high-cost medicines, we need to reassess what we mean by appropriate prescribing in cancer care.
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External review is important when developing clinical practice guidelines. Involving pharmaceutical companies may influence guideline recommendations in their favour and is therefore controversial. Our study aimed to measure stakeholder participation in the external review of the 2016 European acne guideline and assess the extent to which comments submitted by pharmaceutical companies suggested changes favouring their own products. ⋯ Participation of professional societies, patients, and the general public in the external review of the 2016 European acne guideline was unacceptably low. This is in concordance with reports of low participation of these groups in other European dermatology guidelines. While involving the pharmaceutical industry in the review substantially increased the number of comments received, many of these sought changes that would have put companies' own products in a more favourable light. Our findings underscore the need to manage reviewer comments in a robust and transparent fashion. Solutions to encourage participation of all relevant stakeholders are needed.