Developing a methodology for an evidence-based assessment of diagnostic options for the of illness and disease, for the Clinical Evidence publication

Clinical Evidence (CE) provides a summary of the best available evidence on the effectiveness of different healthcare interventions. It is produced by the BMJ Publishing Group in the UK and is designed for use by healthcare professionals. As well as often facing difficult decisions over which therapeutic interventions to provide, healthcare professionals can also have difficulties diagnosing a patients? condition or deciding which are the most appropriate and useful diagnostic tests/criteria to apply. The team at CE, including the Information Specialists, have been investigating the possibility of assessing diagnostic tests in a systematic evidence-based way, for inclusion in future editions of Clinical Evidence. In this presentation we will look at the work that has been done on developing a search strategy and how the systematic review studies f ound, have been used to create an experimental model of how this information can be presented, in order to facilitate ease of use and understanding for healthcare professionals.