Evidence Notes are brief summaries (no more than 4 pages long) of existing evidence regarding specific health technologies. They were published by the NHS Healthcare Improvement Scotland, Health Technology Group to support NHS planners in making investment/disinvestment decisions.
Topics for Evidence Notes are proposed by planners in NHS Scotland. Once a suitable topic was identified, the aim was to produce an Evidence Note for the topic within approximately 3 months. As the intention was to act as a tool to better inform planners and complement their discussions with clinicians, manufacturers and other professionals, Evidence Notes were written in plain language and did not make any recommendations.
The process of producing Evidence Notes was similar to that of other evidence-based reports and involved systematic searches of various databases, critical appraisal and summary of the evidence, and peer review. Given the short timeframe the main focus was to identify the most up-to-date secondary literature (synthesised evidence).
WMHTAC provided an overflow service to produce Evidence Notes on demand for Healthcare Improvement Scotland from 2006-2009 and produced the following Evidence Notes:
- Evidence Note 26: Clinical and cost-effectiveness of self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) for non-insulin treated type 2 diabetes. January 2009.
- Evidence Note 24: Acupuncture for low back pain. September 2008.
- Evidence Note 22: The clinical and cost effectiveness of surgical insertion of grommets for otitis media with effusion (glue ear) in children. January 2008.
- Evidence Note 16: The use of cranial orthosis treatment for infant deformational plagiocephaly. May 2007.
- Evidence Note 15: Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) for the prevention and treatment of osteoradionecrosis following radiotherapy of head and neck cancer. April 2007.
- Evidence Note 14: Melatonin to assist in the management of sleep disorders in children with neuro-developmental disorders. December 2006.
Evidence Notes can be accessed at:
http://www.healthcareimprovementscotland.org/programmes/clinical__cost_effectiveness/shtg/evidence_notes.aspx
and are indexed in the HTA database within the Cochrane Library