Strategies for the Diffusion and Dissemination of Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Products
Aim: To analyze experiences in diffusion and dissemination of products issued and activities undertaken by HTA agencies and units at home and abroad.
Conclusions and results: Study results were divided into: Country-Specific Experiences and HTA Experience in Spain.
Country-Specific Experiences. We identified 37 agencies. The results were as follows:
Type of document: a percentage breakdown showed assessment reports (ARs) as being drawn up by all but one agency, CTs (38.88%), TDs (33.33%), CPGs (27.77%) and other types of documents (27.77%).
Audience: divided into administrative (100%), legislative (85.72%), clinical (82.85%), consumer (40%), and industrial segments (11.42%). Some agencies had included other profiles, eg, research community (17.45%), media (1.42%), and medical industry (8.57%).
Diffusion and dissemination strategies: all but one agency had their own Web pages. The language available was that of the country concerned, with English added in 69.4% of cases. Of all agencies, 48.38% reported publishing scientific papers, 32.25% reported publishing communications delivered to meetings, and 25.80% reported using the media. All had documents in specialized databases, but 5 agencies had no presence in general databases, 2 had no documents in MEDLINE, and 6 agencies had no presence in the Web of Knowledge database. Among their annual tasks, 21 agencies listed the provision and/or coordination of continuing education courses.
HTA Experience in Spain. The results obtained from this study were:
Type of document: ARs (100%), CTs (28.57%), and TDs (57.14%). Practically all agencies reported sporadically producing methodology documents, but only I+CS had compiled these documents into a formal series. In every case the complete text was available on the Internet in Spanish and/or the official language of the Autonomous Region (comunidad autónoma) in question.
Audience: legislative and administrative (100%), clinical (100%), general public (25%), and industrial (12.5%) audiences have been identified. In addition, other previously ignored sectors were located, eg, academics (12.5%) and the media (25%).
Diffusion and dissemination strategies: except for I+CS, Web pages were the most widely used method. All were available in Spanish, and four agencies also offered Web pages in English. Eight agencies reported publishing their studies in scientific papers and presenting their results at conferences, meetings, and symposia. All agencies had educational programs, eg, through participation in postgraduate courses.
Agencies focus their work on assessment reports, followed by technical consultation and technical dossiers. These documents target mainly an administrative audience. Apart from abridged and complete versions there appears to be no format specifically adapted to these users. The clinical audience ranks second, where the focus tends to center on clinicians. Other users (research community, media, etc.) appear to be sporadically reflected. Web pages are widely used and include information on mission, structure, and activities. Yet, users are seldom clearly specified. Nearly all of these documents are present in specialized databases, but not always in general databases.
Written by: Sobrido Prieto M, González Guitián C, and Cerdá Mota T, AVALIA-T, Spain