BMJ 1995;310:815-816 (1 April)

Editorials

Innovations in services and the appliance of science

Managers and doctors should both seek evidence of effectiveness

Everyone now accepts that new drugs should be tested extensively before their introduction. A similar consensus is developing over health technology.1 2 Broadly defined, health technology includes methods of organising care,3 but currently innovations in how health services are organised and delivered often seem to be unregulated and unevaluated. Several factors drive innovation in services. These include perceptions of improved cost effectiveness on the part of policymakers or local purchasers and providers, perceptions of demand from the public and patients for changes in the delivery of care, and enthusiastic promotion of new technologies by commercial interests. Perceptions of usefulness are, however, all too often based on subjective impressions rather than established facts.

Many current innovations are concerned with the interface between primary and secondary care because of the (largely untested) belief that shifting care to the community will be more cost effective . . . [Full text of this article]


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Campbell, M., Fitzpatrick, R., Haines, A., Kinmonth, A. L., Sandercock, P., Spiegelhalter, D., Tyrer, P. (2000). Framework for design and evaluation of complex interventions to improve health. BMJ 321: 694-696 [Full text]  
  • Haines, A., Donald, A. (1998). Getting research findings into practice: Making better use of research findings. BMJ 317: 72-75 [Full text]  
  • Lathlean, J. (1996). Ethical issues for nursing research: A methodological focus. Journal of Research in Nursing 1: 175-183 [Abstract]  
  • Dowling, S., Barrett, S., West, R. (1995). With nurse practitioners, who needs house officers?. BMJ 311: 309-313 [Full text]  
Access all current jobs at BMJ Group
Whats new online at Student BMJ
Listen to the latest BMJ Interview