Objective

To develop a collaborative approach for working with Health Technology Assessment (HTA) organizations, guideline developers and systematic reviewers to promote broader uptake of patient-important outcomes in clinical research through the use of core outcome sets (COS).

Background

Organizations that synthesize and use clinical studies to promote evidence-based healthcare decision making are generally in agreement about the problems caused by outcome heterogeneity, selective reporting of outcomes, and the relative absence of outcomes of importance to patients/service users, all of which contribute to research waste. While clinical researchers pay careful attention to clinical outcomes, recognized by the external regulatory authorities as essential to obtaining marketing approval/clearance, there is an opportunity for evidence reviewers/synthesizers, HTA organizations and guideline developers to collaborate and use their collective voices to incentivize clinical researchers to use core outcome sets that have been agreed by patients, health professionals and researchers, amongst others. 

Overview of the Session

Through brief panel presentations, panel discussion and extensive audience participation, this Special Session will explore more systematically how entities such as the Guidelines International Network (G-I-N), Cochrane, health technology organizations, core outcome set developers, and patients might work together effectively to promote the development and use of core outcome sets.