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Challenges of Summarizing Better Information for Better Health: The Evidence-based Practice Center Experience: David Atkins, Kenneth Fink, and Jean Slutsky Better Information for Better Health Care: The Evidence-based Practice Center Program and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Ann Intern Med 2005; 142: 1035-1041 [Abstract] [Full text] [PDF]

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Evidence-based Practice and Patient Involvement

Alain Braillon, Maxime Gignon, Gérard Dubois   (15 July 2005)

Evidence-based Practice and Patient Involvement 15 July 2005
Alain Braillon, MD Service dÉvaluation médicale, CHU, Amiens, France, Maxime Gignon, Gérard Dubois Send rapid response to journal: Re: Evidence-based Practice and Patient Involvement braillon.alain{at}chu-amiens.fr Alain Braillon, et al.	Letter to the Editor, Physicians' revalidation which is now mandatory in France (1 July), is a new step for developing Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) and improving the quality of health care. Practice evaluation based on clinical practice guidelines (CPG) will be the cornerstone of this policy. In the special issue of the Journal devoted to the challenges of EPC dissemination, the article from Atkins et al. underlines the place of the patients (1). Therefore, we studied how the French Healthcare Agency had incorporated this concern for its CPG. We printed 37 CPG, issued from January 2002 to May 2005, from the Agency's website (2). Patients' representatives were associated for development of the CPG in 8% of cases. Key words of bibliographic search suggesting consideration of patients' experience (eg. QUALY) were found in 16%. There was no evidence of patients' involvement in 76%. No patient education materials were present. In contrast, reports from the National Institute for Clinical Excellence provides patient education materials and the German Agency for Quality in Medicine (AQuMed / AEZQ) which has been recognized as an independent consumer and patient counselling agency, offers a specific patient information service. The Appraisal of Guidelines, Research and Evaluation (AGREE) instrument designed to provide a framework for systematic quality assessment of CPG shares the same concerns (3). Account for patient's perspectives and expectations in development of the CPG must be documented (criteria 5) and providing patient education materials is recommended (criteria 18). The French policy makers will need to pay increasing attention to patients as important customers for the evidence produced and as actors for its implementation. Alain Braillon, Maxime Gignon, Gérard Dubois Service d'évaluation médicale, CHU, Amiens, France Correspondence to: A Braillon braillon.alain@chu-amiens.fr References 1 www.anaes.fr/HAS/has.nsf/HomePage?ReadForm 2 Atkins D, Fink K, Slutsky J. Better information for better health care: The Evidence-based Practice Center Program and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Ann Intern Med. 2005;142:1035-41 3 www.g-i-n.net Funding: this study had no explicit funding. Competing interests: none. Ethical approval: Not needed. The Corresponding Author has the right to grant on behalf of all authors and does grant on behalf of all authors, an exclusive licence on a worldwide basis to the American College of Physicians Publishing Group Ltd to permit this article (if accepted) to be published in Ann Intern Med. editions and any other American College of Physicians products and sublicences such use and exploit all subsidiary rights, as set out in our licence. Conflict of Interest: None declared