EVIDENCE-BASED GUIDELINES IN LABORATORY MEDICINE 2007
EVIDENCE-BASED
GUIDELINES IN
LABORATORY MEDICINE
Practical workshop organized by the
IFCC Committee of Evidence-Based Laboratory Medicine
under the auspices of CUBRA and Federación Bioquímica de
la Provincia de Buenos Aires
20-23 November 2007
Sheraton Hotel Mar del Plata
4221 Alem St., Juan Castagnino Room
Mar Del Plata, Argentina
Confederación Unificada
Bioquímica de la Republica Argentina
MAR DEL PLATA, ARGENTINA
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EVIDENCE-BASED GUIDELINES IN LABORATORY MEDICINE 2007
WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
This workshop aims at disseminating the methodology of evidence-based guideline
development and adaptation of international guidelines to national/local use.
Key objectives are to help participants to:
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improve their ability to develop evidence-based guideline recommendations;
practice, teach and disseminate the methods of evidence-based guideline development;
promote collaboration in the field of guideline development locally and internationally.
Participants will obtain skills in:
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systematic guideline development methods: including the methodology of prioritizing and
selecting guideline topics, formulating questions for making evidence-based
recommendations, searching for the evidence and synthesizing data in evidence tables, and
grading recommendations;
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critical appraisal of guidelines;
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methods of adaptation of international/external guidelines;
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implementing guideline recommendations in clinical practice;
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auditing the use and impact of guidelines in practice;
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teaching basic terms and methods of guideline development and evidence-based practice to
guideline developers and consumers;
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organizational and financial aspects of guideline development and implementation.
WHO IS THIS PROGRAMME FOR?
The workshop is primarily designed for health care professionals, researchers and policy
makers involved in guideline development, particularly in the field of laboratory medicine.
Participants with prior basic skills and experience in EBM, and willingness to obtain skills by
interactive and problem-based learning may have an advantage.
WORKSHOP DESIGN
The workshop design is based on a training model by CASP International (Critical Appraisal
Skills Program, originated from Oxford, UK). The workshop program is based on the IFCCFESCC Course on Evidence-based Laboratory Medicine and the Guidelines International
Network – WHO Guideline Workshop held in Budapest, Hungary in 2005 and 2006,
respectively.
The workshop modules on each day consist of introductory talks and interactive small group
works followed by plenary feed-back sessions. Theoretical teaching is combined with practical
work and group discussions in order to involve participants in active learning and sharing of
experience. The detailed preliminary program of the course is attached. The organizers reserve
all rights to make changes to the program.
MAR DEL PLATA, ARGENTINA
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EVIDENCE-BASED GUIDELINES IN LABORATORY MEDICINE 2007
Introductory talks
A slide presentation links to each small group work, and covers the theory and methodology that
is used in the practical workshop.
Small group work
Participants form small groups of approximately 8-10 people. The groups will stay the same
throughout the course in order to allow small group learning and group dynamics to develop.
The aim of small group work is to develop practical skills in guideline methodology, using case
scenarios and published examples. The successful completion of most small group sessions
requires some pre-workshop reading of case scenarios and corresponding publications. Small
group discussions also provide an opportunity to share experience and to exchange views and
approaches of participants. The interactive, problem-based small group session is led by a
facilitator whose task is not to give the right answers, but to help the group to find the best
solutions and come to a consensus view, which will then be presented in the plenary feed-back
session.
Each small group session starts with voluntary nomination of the persons who will
 read out and explain the task of the workshop;
 summarize the consensus view of the group in the plenary feedback session;
 keep the time.
Plenary feed-back
Following on from a small group work, these feed-back sessions will allow participants to share
their experience and small group discussions with the whole group. Group representatives will
present the consensus views and opinions of small groups, and the facilitator of the feed-back
session summarizes the different answers. The plenary feed-back sessions provide an
opportunity to re-discuss and clarify issues that remained unsolved in the small group work, and
reiterate some key definitions or methods described in the introductory talks.
Lecturers’ and facilitators’ feed-back
At the end of each day, lecturers and facilitators discuss how the workshops went, what went
well or wrong, and how things could be improved next time. These daily round-up sessions are
very useful when planning future workshops, and also in adjusting the program of the next day
according to participants’ needs and skills. Therefore, comments from participants regarding the
program during the small group works or the plenary discussions are encouraged and welcome!
Summary and evaluation
Each participant will be requested to fill in a workshop assessment form, which will investigate
how individual aims and learning objectives were fulfilled, what participants liked or disliked,
what questions remained unanswered. Participants’ reply will be very valuable to organizers in
guiding them how to improve similar workshops in the future.
The assessment questionnaire is anonymous. The form should be filled in during the workshops
and handed over to the organizers on the last day of the course!
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE
The official language of both the symposium and workshop is English.
MAR DEL PLATA, ARGENTINA
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EVIDENCE-BASED GUIDELINES IN LABORATORY MEDICINE 2007
PROGRAMME
DAY 1: 20 November (Tuesday)
09:00 – 09:25 Welcome
Interpretación de la Información Bioquímica
The Interactive Digital Book Project in Argentina (3rd edition)
Dr. Hernán Fares Taie
09:25 – 09:55 Introduction into evidence-based laboratory medicine
Sverre Sandberg
09:55 – 10:35 Principles and methods of guideline development
Joseph Watine
10:35 – 11:00 Topic selection and defining the scope of guidelines
Andrea Rita Horvath
11:00 – 11:30 Coffee break
11:30 – 13:00 Small group work: Selecting and prioritising guideline topics
Lead: Andrea Rita Horvath
Facilitators: Peter Bunting, Rita Horvath, Wytze Oosterhuis, Sverre Sandberg,
Joseph Watine
13:00 – 14:00 Lunch
14:00 – 14:45 How clinical questions shape a guideline?
Peter Bunting
14:45 – 15:00 Coffee break
15:00 – 16:30 Small group work: The art of question formulation
Lead: Peter Bunting
Facilitators: Peter Bunting, Rita Horvath, Wytze Oosterhuis, Sverre Sandberg,
Joseph Watine
16:30 – 17:30 Group feedback and discussion
Chair: Peter Bunting
MAR DEL PLATA, ARGENTINA
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EVIDENCE-BASED GUIDELINES IN LABORATORY MEDICINE 2007
DAY 2 : 21 November (Wednesday)
09:00 – 09:45 Which study answers my question best?
Wytze Oosterhuis
09:45 – 10:30 How to read a paper?
Sverre Sandberg
10:30 – 11:00 Coffee break
11:00 – 13:00 Small group work: Critical appraisal of the literature
Lead: Wytze Oosterhuis
Facilitators: Peter Bunting, Rita Horvath, Wytze Oosterhuis, Sverre Sandberg,
Joseph Watine
13:00 – 14:00 Lunch
14:00 – 14:30 Extraction and synthesis of data in evidence tables
Rita Horvath
14:30 – 15:00 Formulating and grading recommendations
Peter Bunting
15:00 – 15:15 Coffee break
15:15 – 17:00 Small group work: Formulating recommendations
Lead: Peter Bunting
Facilitators: Peter Bunting, Rita Horvath, Wytze Oosterhuis, Sverre Sandberg,
Joseph Watine
17:00 – 17:45 Group feedback and discussion
Chair: Peter Bunting
MAR DEL PLATA, ARGENTINA
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EVIDENCE-BASED GUIDELINES IN LABORATORY MEDICINE 2007
DAY 3: 22 November (Thursday)
09:00 – 09:30 Critical appraisal of guidelines
Joseph Watine
09:30 – 09:45 Coffee break
09:45 – 11:30 Small group work: Critical appraisal of guidelines
Lead: Joseph Watine
Facilitators: Peter Bunting, Rita Horvath, Wytze Oosterhuis, Sverre Sandberg,
Joseph Watine
11:30 – 12:00 Special subjects to be addressed in laboratory guidelines
Wytze Oosterhuis
12:00 – 13:00 Small group work: Writing guidelines
Lead: Wytze Oosterhuis
Facilitators: Peter Bunting, Rita Horvath, Wytze Oosterhuis, Sverre Sandberg,
Joseph Watine
13:00 – 14:00 Lunch
14:00 – 14:45 Group feedback and discussion
Chair: Rita Horvath
14:45 – 15:15 How to implement guidelines in practice?
Sverre Sandberg
15:15 – 15:30 Coffee break
15:30 – 16:45 Small group work: Developing an implementation plan
Lead: Sverre Sandberg
Facilitators: Peter Bunting, Rita Horvath, Wytze Oosterhuis, Sverre Sandberg,
Joseph Watine
16:45 – 17:30 Group feedback and discussion
Sverre Sandberg
MAR DEL PLATA, ARGENTINA
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EVIDENCE-BASED GUIDELINES IN LABORATORY MEDICINE 2007
DAY 4: 23 November (Friday)
09:00 – 09:45 Measuring the impact of guidelines – the role of clinical audit
Peter Bunting
09:45 – 10:15 Guideline adaptation – the ADAPTE project
Rita Horvath
10:15 – 10:45 Coffee break
10:45 – 12:00 Round table discussion
Lead: Rita Horvath
Facilitators: Peter Bunting, Rita Horvath, Wytze Oosterhuis, Sverre Sandberg,
Joseph Watine
12:00 – 12:30 Closing remarks
13:00 – 14:00 Lunch
DAY 4: 23 November (Friday)
VIDEO CONFERENCE
14:00 – 14:50 Do we have the evidence in laboratory medicine?
Andrea Rita Horvath
14:50 – 15:00 Discussion
15:00 – 15:40
“Interpretación de la Información Bioquímica”
The Interactive Digital Book Project in Argentina (3rd edition)
Dr. Hernán Fares Taie
15:40 – 16:00 Discussion
MAR DEL PLATA, ARGENTINA
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