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4. Therese Svanberg & Eva Alopaeus: Health Technology Assessments Print E-mail

Thursday 4 June 2009 14.00 -15.30

A Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Centre at Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg, Sweden, was established in order to support health care professionals in using single technology assessment as a local decision support tool. The centre includes library & information specialists, HTA-experts and economists.
HTA is a library priority and includes:
  • Preliminary searching to get to know the subject
  • Participation in meetings
  • Defining a PICO for the current topic
  • Two librarians perform the search, to act as each other’s quality control
  • Reading of abstracts and articles, with exclusion/inclusion based on PICO
  • Included articles are sent to clinicians, who decide what to include in the report
This has resulted in:
  • Better knowledge of library services and competence
  • More intense, but stimulating, developing and rewarding work for librarians
  • An HTA-report with high acceptance in its clinical environment
Conclusions:
A systematic, quality controlled literature search and selection is a prerequisite for a high-quality HTA-report. Library involvement is crucial for successful HTA work but has also meant a wider recognition and higher status of the library and its resources. Library impact on decision-making becomes very obvious.

This empowerment session will give you a picture of how HTA-work can be conducted in a university hospital with enhanced library support. There are pros and cons which will be discussed and the audience will be invited to participate in the discussion. If time allows, there will also be a short exercise.

Therese Svanberg & Eva Alopaeus
Sahlgrenska University Hospital
Kliniska centralbiblioteket
Gothenburg, Sweden
Last Updated on Monday, 27 April 2009 17:36