Projects
Dissolve-E
Digitalisation of the guideline registry of the Association of Scientific Medical Societies in Germany for an open, guideline-based, trustworthy evidence ecosystem
Running time: 04/2024 - 03/2027
Fundation: Innovation Committee of the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA)
Ethical Approval: The Ethics Committee of the Berlin chamber of physicians in accordance with its code of conduct §15 section 1 (Eth-KB-24-11) confirmed that no ethical approval is needed for this study.
Project description
In order to ensure the quality of medical care, there are a large number of guidelines that are registered and published by the Association of the Scientific Medical Societies in Germany (AWMF) via a quality-assured guideline register. However, a comprehensive guideline register in digital form does not yet exist. Digitisation could facilitate the creation and updating processes for guidelines, provide needs-specific formats and decision-making aids and enable direct data-based comparison of guideline recommendations and treatment options. In addition, the comparison between guideline specifications and the latest scientific findings could be organised more efficiently.
AWMF Guideline Register
Aim
Dissolve-E aims to convert the AWMF's analogue guideline register into a digital structure that meets (inter)national technical requirements. With this aim in mind, the project group is initially developing a digital technical infrastructure with corresponding standards for data exchange interfaces. In addition, the researchers are developing instructions to enable users to get started with digital guideline creation in an uncomplicated manner; this also includes methodological support. The existing guideline content will ultimately be transferred to the digital register as an example. The development and introduction of the digital register will be evaluated by means of a before-and-after comparison, particularly with regard to the user-friendliness of the register, availability of the guidelines and interconnectivity of guideline content. Surveys and focus groups will be used to tap into the potential of the digital register for users and for different areas of application and enable further optimisation. The project is funded for three years with a total of around 2.8 million euros.
If the project is successful, a publicly accessible digital standard for the exchange of guideline knowledge will be available, and the knowledge collected there can be used for care, research and training.
This project is publicly funded by the Innovation Committee of the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA), grant number: 01VSF23021.
Publications
Studienprotokoll: BMJ open
Nothacker, M., Stegbauer, C., Burckhardt, M., Nink-Grebe, B., Eisele-Metzger, A., Meerpohl, J., Müller, I., Kopp, I., for the Dissolve-E study group: Digitalisation of the guideline registry of the Association of Scientific Medical Societies in Germany for an open, guideline-based, trustworthy evidence ecosystem (Dissolve-E) – a protocol of a before-after study with different user groups.
Scoping Review
Toews, M., Eisele-Metzger, A., Janka, H., Toews, I., Stegbauer, C., Gamstaetter, T., Müller, I., Nothacker, M., Kopp, I., Meerpohl, J. J. (2024, July 2).
Barriers and facilitators in digitalizing clinical practice guidelines: protocol for a scoping review with a focus on tools and experiences.
Consortial partners
- Institute for Evidence in Medicine, Medical Center, University of Freiburg
- aQua Institute for Applied Quality Improvement and Research in Health Care GmbH
- Berlin Institute of Health at Charité
- German Society for Wound Healing and Wound Care, e. V.
- AG Medical Informatics, Clinic for Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, University Greifswald
Dissolve-E study group
The Dissolve-E study group comprises all members of the research consortium including national and international cooperation partners:
Ina Kopp1, Monika Nothacker1, Ina Müller1, Svenja Litzkendorf2, Nahne-Alina Knizia2, Victoria Meyer2, Fabian Kliemannel2, Björn Broge2, Constance Stegbauer2, Markus Toews3, Angelika Eisele-Metzger3, Joerg Meerpohl3, Brigitte Nink-Grebe4, Marion Burckhardt4, Falk Huneke4, Jürgen Bucher4, Falk von Dincklage5, Gregor Lichtner5, Johannes Starlinger6, Sylvia Thun7, Sophie Klopfenstein7, Markus Follmann8, Thomas Langer8, Gregor Wenzel8, Torsten Karge9, Brian Alper10, Artur Nowak11, Bart Dietl11, Linn Brandt12, Per Olav Vandvik12, Chris Champion12, Thomas Gamstätter13
1Association of the Scientific Medical Societies, Institute for Medical Knowledge Management (AWMF-IMWi), Marburg/Berlin, Germany:Project lead, supervising project plan fulfillment and products
2aQua Institute for Applied Quality Improvement and Research in Health Care GmbH: Consortium partner for technical development of the digitalised registry and for evaluation, i.e. questionnaires, surveys, focus groups
3Institute for Evidence in Medicine, Medical Center, University of Freiburg: Methodological partner for scoping review and
GRADE-Methodik
4German society for wound healing and wound care: Partner at the outpatient point of care setting including recruitment
5AG Medical Informatics, Clinic for Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, University of Greifswald: Partner at the inpatient point of care setting including recruitment
6Howto Health GmbH: Technical partner for development of digitalised registry, focus on requirements analysis, detection of contradicting content in or between guidelines and evidence gaps
7HL7 Germany, Berlin, Germany and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany (partner for quality management and meeting technical standards)
8German Guideline Program in Oncology: Partner for importing digitalised guidelines and testing the digitalised registry, implementing APIs
Guideline Prgramme in Oncology
9Clinical Guideline Services GmbH: Partner for importing digitalised guidelines and testing the digitalised registry, implementing APIs
Clinical Guideline Services GmbH
10Computable Publishing LLC: Partner for importing digitalised guidelines and testing the digitalised registry, implementing APIs
11Evidence Prime: Partner for importing digitalised guidelines and testing the digitalised registry, implementing APIs
12MAGIC Evidence Ecosystem Foundation: Partner for importing digitalised guidelines and testing the digitalised registry, implementing APIs
MAGIC Evidence Ecosystem Foundation
13German Society for Internal Medicine: Partner for recruitment of technical users
German Society for Internal Medicine.
Contact
Association of the Scientific Medical Societies, Institute for Medical Knowledge Management (AWMF-IMWi)
06421 286 22 96
kopp@awmf.org
nothacker@awmf.org
mueller@awmf.org