A while back I wrote a piece Different approaches to rapidity which suggested there are two ways of doing a rapid review: Process – take the systematic review and take short cuts Outcome – what’s the optimal way of getting to the desired outcome I’m increasingly concerned that all the focus is on the former and not the latter. My concern is based on a variety … Continue reading Where are we going with rapid reviews? #frustrating

The Cochrane HPV vaccine review was incomplete and ignored important evidence of bias by Lars Jørgensen, Peter C Gøtzsche, Tom Jefferson (BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine 2018) This is a highly critical article pointing out that the review missed nearly half of eligible trials.  They also land some heavy punches with comments such as: “Cochrane’s public relations of the review were uncritical“ “In our view, this is not … Continue reading The Cochrane HPV vaccine review was incomplete and ignored important evidence of bias

I posted a post-Evidence Live blog last week which explored the notion of harms associated with doing rapid reviews (RRs). There is overlap from that post but I’ve had time to reflect and hopefully this will be better written. I’ve also added a vote!!  It may need re-writing again, if you think it needs clarification then please let me know! The question I was asked … Continue reading Value of Information to help with the SR v RR debate?

I was at the wonderful Evidence Live and presented on rapid reviews. One question came from the wonderful Iain Chalmers who asked about the potential for harm if health professionals followed the advice of a RR that was subsequently shown to be wrong. Later, in conversation, it became clear that ‘wrong’ meant a reversal of conclusion – so the SR might say the intervention is … Continue reading Systematic versus rapid reviews – what about harms?

I had the pleasure of presenting at the HTAi 2018 conference in Vancouver which ended yesterday. Here is a picture from the event, shared as (a) the unplanned colour co-ordination is impeccable and (b) people have commented I look like a game show host. I talked about, you guessed it, rapid reviews. My emphasis was on the fact that, whatever the review type, you never … Continue reading HTAi 2018

Straw man: A logic fallacy involving the purposeful misrepresentation of an argument in order to strike it down. I was sent a paper to review earlier this week and I was quite strong in my feedback, so I thought I should share my frustration and write a blog – so here it is… A central tenet of the paper was that rapid reviews (RR) can be … Continue reading Straw man and the accuracy of rapid reviews