National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools, McMaster University, 175 Longwood Rd S, Suite 210a, ON, L8P 0A1, Hamilton, Canada.
Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence & Impact, McMaster University, 2C Area, 1280 Main St W, ON, L8S 4K1, Hamilton, Canada.
BMC Med Res Methodol. 2021 Oct 27;21(1):231. doi: 10.1186/s12874-021-01436-1.
The COVID-19 public health crisis has produced an immense and quickly evolving body of evidence. This research speed and volume, along with variability in quality, could overwhelm public health decision-makers striving to make timely decisions based on the best available evidence. In response to this challenge, the National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools developed a Rapid Evidence Service, building on internationally accepted rapid review methodologies, to address priority COVID-19 public health questions.
Each week, the Rapid Evidence Service team receives requests from public health decision-makers, prioritizes questions received, and frames the prioritized topics into searchable questions. We develop and conduct a comprehensive search strategy and critically appraise all relevant evidence using validated tools. We synthesize the findings into a final report that includes key messages, with a rating of the certainty of the evidence using GRADE, as well as an overview of evidence and remaining knowledge gaps. Rapid reviews are typically completed and disseminated within two weeks. From May 2020 to July 21, 2021, we have answered more than 31 distinct questions and completed 32 updates as new evidence emerged. Reviews receive an average of 213 downloads per week, with some reaching over 7700. To date reviews have been accessed and cited around the world, and a more fulsome evaluation of impact on decision-making is planned.
The development, evolution, and lessons learned from our process, presented here, provides a real-world example of how review-level evidence can be made available - rapidly and rigorously, and in response to decision-makers' needs - during an unprecedented public health crisis.
COVID-19 公共卫生危机产生了大量且快速发展的证据。这种研究速度和数量，以及质量的可变性，可能会使努力根据最佳现有证据做出及时决策的公共卫生决策者不堪重负。为应对这一挑战，国家方法和工具合作中心开发了快速证据服务，该服务建立在国际公认的快速审查方法的基础上，旨在解决优先的 COVID-19 公共卫生问题。
每周，快速证据服务团队都会收到公共卫生决策者的请求，对收到的问题进行优先排序，并将优先问题转化为可搜索的问题。我们制定并实施了全面的搜索策略，并使用经过验证的工具对所有相关证据进行批判性评估。我们将研究结果综合成一份最终报告，其中包括关键信息，并使用 GRADE 对证据的确定性进行评级，以及对证据和剩余知识差距的概述。快速审查通常在两周内完成并发布。从 2020 年 5 月到 2021 年 7 月 21 日，我们已经回答了 31 个不同的问题，并根据新出现的证据完成了 32 次更新。每份评论的平均每周下载量为 213 次，有些评论的下载量超过 7700 次。迄今为止，评论已在全球范围内被访问和引用，计划对决策的影响进行更全面的评估。
本研究展示了开发、演变以及从我们的过程中吸取的经验教训，为在前所未有的公共卫生危机期间如何快速、严格地根据决策者的需求提供审查级别的证据提供了一个现实世界的范例。
