Untitled

Abstract

Health Technology Assessment is indexed in Index Medicus/MEDLINE and Excerpta Medica/ EMBASE. Copies of the Executive Summaries are available from the NCCHTA website (see opposite). NHS R&D HTA Programme T he NHS R&D Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Programme was set up in 1993 to ensure that high-quality research information on the costs, effectiveness and broader impact of health technologies is produced in the most efficient way for those who use, manage and provide care in the NHS. Initially, six HTA panels (pharmaceuticals, acute sector, primary and community care, diagnostics and imaging, population screening, methodology) helped to set the research priorities for the HTA Programme. However, during the past few years there have been a number of changes in and around NHS R&D, such as the establishment of the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) and the creation of three new research programmes: Service Delivery and Organisation (SDO); New and Emerging Applications of Technology (NEAT); and the Methodology Programme. Although the National Coordinating Centre for Health Technology Assessment (NCCHTA) commissions research on behalf of the Methodology Programme, it is the Methodology Group that now considers and advises the Methodology Programme Director on the best research projects to pursue. The research reported in this monograph was funded as project number 95/19/04. The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the Methodology Programme, HTA Programme or the Department of Health. The editors wish to emphasise that funding and publication of this research by the NHS should not be taken as implicit support for any recommendations made by the authors. Criteria for inclusion in the HTA monograph series Reports are published in the HTA monograph series if (1) they have resulted from work commissioned for the HTA Programme, and (2) they are of a sufficiently high scientific quality as assessed by the referees and editors. Reviews in Health Technology Assessment are termed 'systematic' when the account of the search, appraisal and synthesis methods (to minimise biases and random errors) would, in theory, permit the replication of the review by others.

Advantages and limitations of virtual online consultations in a NHS acute trust: the VOCAL mixed-methods study

“…Given that a virtual consultation service had already evolved in the Adult/Young Adult Diabetes clinic prior to the start of the study and the focus of Barts Health NHS Trust was on considering the potential for roll-out elsewhere within the organisation, much of our focus was at the organisational level, which appeared to be integral to the ongoing and measured development of virtual consultation services. Although all of our activities were broadly guided by the action research cycle (plan, act, observe, reflect 148 ) and aimed to feed into service development, our contact with local and national stakeholders provided opportunities for increased insight and our extended fieldwork enabled insights into the complexities of relevant policies, organisational and decision-making processes that would not have been available to us through standard interviews or observations alone.…”

“…Our study was therefore informed by the principles of action research. 148,149 Action research has been described as 'a mutual learning process within which people work together to discover what the issues are, why they exist, and how they might be addressed'. 150 The idea is that practitioners and researchers work together to identify and seek to address issues as they arise in the context of research, and, in this case, in the development of a virtual consultation service.…”

Individual performance review in hospital practice: the development of a framework and evaluation of doctors’ attitudes to its value and implementation

“…An action research, qualitative methodology was used, allowing both exploration of attitudes and the assessment of an intervention,22 through a cyclical process involving the subject cohort, and with the researcher participating in data collection and evaluation 23. This followed the action research principle of ‘a change intervention geared to improvement and a process based on a continuous interaction between research, action, reflection and evaluation’ 24.…”

Improvement of pressure ulcer prevention care in private for-profit residential care homes: an action research study

“…In a systematic review of action research studies, emerging evidence supports this approach to promote acceptance of new care practices, continuation of new initiatives, and adoption of new projects in health care [23]. Other previous studies have also found that action research is a strategy to introduce evidence and change in practice [24], develop new practice [25], and improve the care practice [26] in healthcare settings.…”