A collaborative pilot on current awareness alerts for disinvestment and horizon scanning. (31st August 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Lauvrak, Vigdis; Esmail, Rosmin; Espeland, Anna Lien; Farrah, Kelly; Hafstad, Elisabet; Harboe, Ingrid; Migliore, Antonio; Ohm, Ingrid Kristine; Topfer, Leigh-Ann
• Is Part Of: International journal of technology assessment in health care. Volume 37:Number 1(2021)
• Publication Date: 2021-08-31
• Subjects: Disinvestment -- Horizon scanning -- Emerging health technologies -- Early awareness -- Health Technology Reassessment; Medical technology -- Periodicals; Technology assessment -- Periodicals; 610.28
• DOI: 10.1017/S0266462321000568
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0266-4623

Abstract

Abstract: Objective: In 2019, members of the Health Technology Assessment international (HTAi) Interest Group for Disinvestment and Early Awareness (DEA-IG) and the HTAi Interest Group for Information Retrieval (IR-IG) agreed to produce quarterly current awareness alerts for members of the DEA-IG. The purpose was to pilot a predefined strategy for sharing new publications on methods and topical issues in this area. Methods: Literature search strategies for PubMed and Google were developed. Retrieved citations were posted on the DEA-IG Web site. Members of the DEA-IG received an email notification when new alerts were available. An informal survey of the DEA-IG members was used to provide feedback after the pilot. Results: Six alerts were issued during the pilot (June 2019–September 2020) with a total of 170 citations. The bulk of the information were 124 PubMed indexed citations, and of these, 96 were retrieved by the PubMed search strategies. Google searches were not found to be useful, but ongoing horizon scanning work at the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH) provided additional information. Based on retrospective sorting, we considered thirty-five PubMed citations to be highly relevant for health technology assessment (HTA). The response rate to the survey was limited (seventeen respondents), but most respondents found the alerts useful for their work. Conclusions: The results of this pilot project can be used to revise search strategies and information sources, improve the relevance of the alerts, and plan for expanded dissemination strategies.