TY - JOUR
T1 - Exploring the use and impact of the Australian living guidelines for the clinical care of people with COVID-19
T2 - where to from here?
AU - Millard, Tanya
AU - Elliott, Julian H.
AU - Green, Sally
AU - McGloughlin, Steve
AU - Turner, Tari
AU - on behalf of the National COVID-19 Clinical Evidence Taskforce
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding: The founding funders of the National COVID-19 Clinical Evidence Taskforce were the Australian Government Department of Health, the Victorian Government Department of Health and Human Services, the Ian Potter Foundation and the Walter Cottman Endowment Fund, managed by Equity Trustees, and the Lord Mayors’ Charitable Foundation. The Taskforce is currently funded by the Australian Living Evidence Consortium. The funders played no role in the development of the methods, in the writing of the report, or in the decision to submit the article for publication.
Funding Information:
Funding: The founding funders of the National COVID-19 Clinical Evidence Taskforce were the Australian Government Department of Health , the Victorian Government Department of Health and Human Services , the Ian Potter Foundation and the Walter Cottman Endowment Fund , managed by Equity Trustees, and the Lord Mayors’ Charitable Foundation . The Taskforce is currently funded by the Australian Living Evidence Consortium . The funders played no role in the development of the methods, in the writing of the report, or in the decision to submit the article for publication.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors
PY - 2024/2
Y1 - 2024/2
N2 - Objectives: The Australian National COVID-19 Clinical Evidence Taskforce has been developing, maintaining, and disseminating living guidelines and decision support tools (clinical flowcharts) for the care of people with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 since 2020. Living guidelines, a form of living evidence, are a relatively new approach; hence, more work is required to determine how to optimize their use to inform practice, policy, and decision-making and to explore implementation, uptake, and impact implications. An update of an earlier impact evaluation was conducted to understand sustained awareness and use of the guidelines; the factors that facilitate the widespread adoption of the guidelines and to explore the perceived strengths and opportunities for improvement of the guidelines. Study Design and Setting: A mixed-methods impact evaluation was conducted. Surveys collected both quantitative and qualitative data and were supplemented with qualitative interviews. Participants included Australian healthcare practitioners providing care to individuals with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 and people involved in policy-making. Data were collected on awareness, use, impact, strengths, and opportunities for improvement of the guidelines and flow charts. Results: A total of 148 participants completed the survey and 21 people were interviewed between January and March 2022. Awareness of the work of the Taskforce was high and more than 75% of participants reported that the guidelines were used within their workplace. Participants described the Taskforce website and guidelines as trustworthy, valuable, and reliable sources of up-to-date evidence-based information. The evaluation highlighted the varied ways the guidelines were being used across a range of settings and the diverse impacts they have from those at a clinical level to impacts at a policy level. Barriers to and enablers of impact and uptake of the guideline were explored. Conclusion: This evaluation highlights the value of living guidelines during a pandemic when the evidence base is rapidly changing and expanding. It presents useful understanding of the ways clinicians and others use living evidence to inform their clinical practice and decision-making and the diverse impacts the guidelines are having around Australia.
AB - Objectives: The Australian National COVID-19 Clinical Evidence Taskforce has been developing, maintaining, and disseminating living guidelines and decision support tools (clinical flowcharts) for the care of people with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 since 2020. Living guidelines, a form of living evidence, are a relatively new approach; hence, more work is required to determine how to optimize their use to inform practice, policy, and decision-making and to explore implementation, uptake, and impact implications. An update of an earlier impact evaluation was conducted to understand sustained awareness and use of the guidelines; the factors that facilitate the widespread adoption of the guidelines and to explore the perceived strengths and opportunities for improvement of the guidelines. Study Design and Setting: A mixed-methods impact evaluation was conducted. Surveys collected both quantitative and qualitative data and were supplemented with qualitative interviews. Participants included Australian healthcare practitioners providing care to individuals with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 and people involved in policy-making. Data were collected on awareness, use, impact, strengths, and opportunities for improvement of the guidelines and flow charts. Results: A total of 148 participants completed the survey and 21 people were interviewed between January and March 2022. Awareness of the work of the Taskforce was high and more than 75% of participants reported that the guidelines were used within their workplace. Participants described the Taskforce website and guidelines as trustworthy, valuable, and reliable sources of up-to-date evidence-based information. The evaluation highlighted the varied ways the guidelines were being used across a range of settings and the diverse impacts they have from those at a clinical level to impacts at a policy level. Barriers to and enablers of impact and uptake of the guideline were explored. Conclusion: This evaluation highlights the value of living guidelines during a pandemic when the evidence base is rapidly changing and expanding. It presents useful understanding of the ways clinicians and others use living evidence to inform their clinical practice and decision-making and the diverse impacts the guidelines are having around Australia.
KW - Australia
KW - COVID-19
KW - Impact evaluation
KW - Living evidence
KW - Living guidelines
KW - Mixed-methods
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85181807025&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2023.111234
DO - 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2023.111234
M3 - Article
C2 - 38072175
AN - SCOPUS:85181807025
SN - 0895-4356
VL - 166
JO - Journal of Clinical Epidemiology
JF - Journal of Clinical Epidemiology
M1 - 111234
ER -