Comparing different ways of presenting evidence and recommendations in guidelines using the randomized link method

Article type
Authors
Kunnamo I1, Alenius H1
1Duodecim Medical Publications Ltd., Finland
Abstract
Background: The DECIDE project aims at improving the dissemination of evidence-based recommendations by building on the work of the GRADE Working Group to develop and evaluate methods that address the targeted dissemination of guidelines.

Objectives: To show the feasibility of the randomized link method in comparing different presentation formats of evidence and recommendations, and perform assessment of contents on selected clinical topics.

Methods: EBM Guidelines contains brief evidence summaries, ofwhich more than 2800 are based on Cochrane reviews. The evidence summaries use standard wording of graded evidence, and recently structured recommendations have been included. EBM Guidelines are frequently used as an on-line point-of-care resource, which provides an opportunity to perform surveys among users who are looking for guidance on clinical problems. The evidence summaries are linked to the guidelines. In the randomized link method, the evidence summary (or other evidence resource) under the link changes in a randomized fashion, so that different users (or the same user at different times of opening the same link) will see different versions of the contents. Brief on-line questionnaires are included in the evidence summaries, assessing the confidence of the users to the evidence and recommendations, and their intended actions based on the evidence and recommendation presented. The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7—HEALTH.2010.3.1-1—two stage) under grant agreement n◦ 258583

Results: The first results comparing examples of presentation formats of evidence and recommendations on clinical topics selected by the DECIDE consortium are presented.

Conclusions: The randomized link method allows quick assessment of the effect of different presentation formats and wordings for communicating evidence to users of guidelines (both professionals and patients).