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STAGE 1: Defining The Task
| Identify subject areas for searching by examining the existing bulletin (if one already exists) and on advice from the Internal Review Group and other interested parties (health professionals and members of the public) | Team Leader/Information Resources Manager |
| Decide deadlines, personnel
requirements for the critical appraisal process (Stage 3) and
suitable members for the Internal Review Group (Stage 5). Agree
membership of the Internal Review members with the Steering Group. [Each Appraisal Team should adopt a multidisciplinary approach and be aware of the information needs of medical, nursing and therapy professions as well as purchasers and consumers] [Members of the Internal Review Group should be acknowledged experts in their field. A multidisciplinary approach should be adopted to ensure coverage of all subject areas and viewpoints. The Steering Group should be informed once membership is finalised] |
Team Leader/Steering Group |
| Offer a training session on the Project Methodology and the use of the Critical Appraisal Checklists to each Critical Appraisal Team if required. | Inf. Res. Manager |
STAGE 2: Searching For Information
| Search for information in the subject areas identified in Stage 1 using appropriate sources from checklist (Appendix 1) and utilising master searches where available (Appendix 2). Carry out searches for each subject area in a stepped fashion for Types I to V evidence in a strict order (see Appendix 3 for explanation of evidence types). | Inf. Res. Manager | ||||||||
| Carry out searches for a subject from the date given on the relevant chapter of an earlier bulletin if one exists. For new subject areas, search five-ten years initially depending on the amount of information in a given subject area. Search earlier dates if no type I or II evidence is found. | Inf. Res. Manager | ||||||||
| Include English and non-English articles. Where the non-English abstracts seem to indicate type I or II evidence, arrange the translation of full-text documents. | Inf. Res. Manager | ||||||||
| Store reference details, remove duplicates and provide output in a suitable format using reference management software. | Inf. Res. Manager | ||||||||
| Provide results from database searches to the Team Leader at each step for an initial grading of the information. Include Cochrane reviews and other key documents in full text at this stage. | Inf. Res. Manager | ||||||||
Annotate search results as
follows and return search to Information Assistant:
|
Team Leader/ Appraisal Team |
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| Acquire full-text publications in accordance with Team Leader’s instructions. | Information Assistant |
STAGE 3: Grading The Evidence
| For each full-text document supplied, attach an Evidence Form (Appendix 4) to provide the bibliographic details and indicate the type of evidence. Supply a copyright declaration with each document if required, to be signed by recipient and returned to the Project Office. | Inf. Res. Manager/ Information Assistant |
| Organise the critical appraisal of papers using the appropriate Quality Appraisal Checklist as a guide (Appendices 5-9). | Team Leader/ Critical Appraisal Team |
| Co-ordinate the critical appraisal process and communicate with, and motivate, the critical appraisal team. | Team Leader |
| Decide on the evidence to be included in the first draft of the Bulletin. | Team Leader/CA Team |
| Store evidence to be included and critical appraisal checklists. Evidence excluded (and appraisal checklists) should also be retained in case of query. | Team Leader/or Inf. Resources Manager by request. |
STAGE 4: Assigning The Evidence To Statements
| Update existing statements as appropriate. | Team Leader/CA Team | ||||||
| Write new statements where evidence is found which is relevant to the subject area, and of important current interest, but was not covered in an existing bulletin. | Team Leader/CA Team | ||||||
| The Team Leader and Information Resources Manager to liaise closely, to ensure that, once evidence has been assigned to statements covering a particular subject, no other types of evidence will be sought. | Team Leader/ Inf. Res. Manager |
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| Prepare the first draft of the Bulletin
which should include a matrix of statements and the evidence which supports them (see Appendix 10). The statements should include (where appropriate):
The evidence should be:
(See Appendix 11 for an example ) |
Team Leader | ||||||
Identify areas of little or no
evidence, conflicting evidence or where evidence is of poor quality in order to:
|
Team Leader |
STAGE 5: INTERNAL REVIEW
Submit the first draft of the
Bulletin to the Internal Review Group asking for the following responses:
|
Team Leader |
| As an ideal, convene the Internal Review Group to a meeting for this purpose. | Team Leader |
| If this is not possible, the Team Leader should gather and expedite responses, and liaise with reviewers over queries. | Team Leader |
| Carry out further searching, appraisal and evaluation as necessary. | Team Leader/ Inf. Res. Manager |
| Draw up a final draft of the bulletin in consultation with the Steering Group. | Team Leader/ Inf. Res. Manager/ Management. Group |
STAGE 6: PRODUCING EACH BULLETIN
| Submit bulletin to Steering Group for approval and forwarding to External Review. | Team Leader/ Inf. Res. Manager/ Management Group |
STAGE 7: EXTERNAL REVIEW
| Select External Reviewers of high standing (using suggestions from the Welsh and English Offices of Research & Development) to appraise final Bulletins and the conduct of the Project. | Steering Group; Wales Office of Research & Development; English Offices of Research & Development |
| · Co-ordinate the External Review process. | Project Director |
| · Give approval for dissemination of the Bulletins. | Steering Group |
STAGE 8: DISSEMINATING THE BULLETINS
Complete an action plan for the
dissemination of each Bulletin, clearly covering:
|
Steering Group |
| Carry out an ongoing evaluation programme to inform the development of both text and electronic versions of the documents. | Information Resources Manager/Steering Group |
Team Leader
· Liaises with Information Resources Manager and Assistant
· Establishes a Local Appraisal Team for the Protocol
· Co-ordinates the activities of the Appraisal Team to ensure consistency, timeliness and
quality
· Decides on evidence for inclusion
· Identifies and reports areas of poor evidence
· Draws up matrix of statements and supporting evidence
· Writes up preliminary reports for review by Internal Review Group
· Co-ordinates the assessment of these reports
· Writes up final report to submit to Steering Group for External Review
Information Resources Manager supported by Information Assistant