Authors: Patrice CHALON, Laurence KOHN Abstract: Health Technology Assessment (HTA) is the process by which evidence on the clinical effectiveness and the costs and benefits, long term as well as short term, of transferring the technology into clinical practice is systematically evaluated and recommendations generated as to the best approach. Information specialists or librarians are usually involved in the Health Technology Assessment process. They help their patrons in writing the search question, search the appropriate bibliographic databases with all their knowledge in order to retrieve the most pertinent citations, and provide support in the management of the references. They may also assess the results by themselves or take part to the writing of the report. In some case, the Information Specialist teaches and advises experimented scientists who lead the literature searching. At the Belgian Health Care Knowledge Centre (KCE – Belgium), the information specialist organises the transfer of information literacy skills to the scientists. Those trainings are provided by the information specialist or by scientists experimented in Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM) and Health Technology Assessment (HTA). The scientists are then independent in their work process and the project planning is not dependant on the availability of the information specialist. In this paper, we will present how we organize this skills transfer, the first results and the planned improvement. Poster presented at the 11th European Conference of Medical nd Health Libraries, 2008, Helsinki (Finland)

1. Information specialists and Health Technology
Assessment: collaborating or transferring skills?
Patrice CHALON, Laurence KOHN
What literature says… What we planned…
Public KCE experts in HTA, the Information Specialist (IS)
Intervention Experts conduct the literature search on their own
Comparison Literature search is conducted by an Information Specialist, in
STRENGTHS
z KCE experts are happy with the current situation
z collaboration with colleagues brings other vision (multi disciplinary)
z templates and procedures allow a transparency
z selection of article by two experts in parallel reduces subjectivity
z searching literature directly facilitates the project management
What we would like to share…
z Information specialists must meet their users to learn their needs and demands
z Information specialists are seen as an important support when searching the evidence
z Close collaboration with information specialists is seen as a valuable scenario… once suggested
Contact
Patrice.Chalon@kce.fgov.be
Belgian Health Care Knowledge Centre (KCE)
http://kce.fgov.be
collaboration with the expert
Outcome Process efficiency, time management, expert well-being
What we conclude…
KCE experts are happy with the existing situation, which corresponds to what they did previously.
Some aspects could still be enhanced in the context of HTA:
z The access to more e-journals has been achieved by participating to a consortium: this must be
further developed. Providing rapidly a copy of articles is also essential: Inter-Library Loan will
continue, other options will be explored.
z Training must be established on a regular basis to take into account the turnover of experts.
Knowledge sharing should be enhanced, live solution should be preferred to IT tools.
z Lack of time can not be solved by the Information specialist, but keeping services efficient is
essential. Systematically ask the Information Specialist to control the literature search process is
suggested by the experts.
“(…) it is advisable to consult health
information specialists. These experts can
be especially helpful when planning which
databases to search, inclusion and
exclusion criteria, and other aspects of
literature searches.”
Goodman CS, The Lewin Group. HTA 101.
[Webpage] 2004 2007-07-20 [cited 2008-06-
04]
“The selection of resources for
elucidating the question can often be
carried out advantageously by an
information specialist/librarian who is
familiar with the various databases
and knows how to search the
individual databases.”
Børlum Kristensen F, Sigmund H. Health
Technology Assessment Handbook.
Copenhagen: Danish Centre for Health
Technology Assessment, National Board of
Health 2008.
“The ten roles identified are: project
leader, project manager, literature
searcher, reference manager,
document supplier, critical appraiser,
data extractor, data synthesiser,
report writer and disseminator.”
Beverley CA, Booth A, Bath PA. The role of
the information specialist in the systematic
review process: a health information case
study. Health information and libraries
journal. 2003 Jun;20(2):65-74.
“The systematic literature search
starts with an interview between main
reviewer and information specialist
who has to understand the research
scenario.”
Guba B. The Role of the Information
Specialist in the Context of Health
Technology Assessment. EAHIL Workshop
2007: Pathway to new roles. Krakow,
Poland: EAHIL 2007.
“The HTA researcher will find it beneficial
to work with an information specialist to
identify information for an assessment.”
Etext on Health Technology Assessment (HTA)
Information Resources. [Webpage] 2004 2004-
11-16 [cited 2008-06-04]
“Literature search prepared by
Information Specialist (…)”
Brown A. Reviewing the Economic Evidence on
Point-of-Care Devices for Oral Anticoagulation: An
Application of the CADTH Economic Guidelines.
5th Canadian Cochrane Symposium: Knowledge
for Health. Ottawa, Canada: Canadian Cochrane
Centre 2007.
What we learned…
THREATS
z Several interfaces
to bibliographical databases
z Not enough e-journals
z Lack of time to
control the strategy
z Lack of time to
update the strategy
z EndNote custom files
managed by the
Information Specialist only
WEAKNESSES
z time to control the strategy is often scarce
z time to update the strategy is often lacking
OPPORTUNITIES
Library services
z Access to Bibliographical databases
z Access to e-journals
(VDIC consortium)
z Articles from ILL
Tools
z Procedures
z Templates
z EndNote
Training and support
z Support from colleagues
(knowledge transfer)
z Support from the Information
Specialist
(counselling, quality control)
z Internal trainings
(by the IS or field experts)
z External trainings
(CEBAM: Belgian Cochrane Centre)
Focus group (2 hours)

2. Information specialists and Health Technology Assessment:
collaborating or transfering skills?
Author
Patrice CHALON, Laurence KOHN
Institution
Belgian Health Care Knowledge Centre (KCE), Brussels, Belgium
Presenting author
Patrice Chalon
Abstract
Health Technology Assessment (HTA) is the process by which evidence on the clinical
effectiveness and the costs and benefits, long term as well as short term, of transferring the
technology into clinical practice is systematically evaluated and recommendations generated as to the
best approach.
Information specialists or librarians are usually involved in the Health Technology Assessment
process. They help their patrons in writing the search question, search the appropriate bibliographic
databases with all their knowledge in order to retrieve the most pertinent citations, and provide
support in the management of the references. They may also assess the results by themselves or take
part to the writing of the report. In some case, the Information Specialist teaches and advises
experimented scientists who lead the literature searching.
At the Belgian Health Care Knowledge Centre (KCE – Belgium), the information specialist
organises the transfer of information literacy skills to the scientists. Those trainings are provided by
the information specialist or by scientists experimented in Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM) and Health
Technology Assessment (HTA). The scientists are then independent in their work process and the
project planning is not dependant on the availability of the information specialist.
In this paper, we will present how we organize this skills transfer, the first results and the planned
improvement.