2.1 PriorEvaluation
Most techniques new to Australia and New Zealand will have been evaluated
or at least implemented elsewhere in the world first. Issues that should be
considered include:
• Has the technique been previously evaluated?
Hospitals/health services should establish whether an assessment has
already been done through international or national systematic review
or Health Technology Assessment (e.g. INAHTA– International
Network of Agencies for health technology assessment, ASERNIP-S –
Australian Safety and Efficacy Register of New Interventional
Procedures - Surgical, Cochrane Collaboration, MSAC – Medical
Services Advisory Committee), clinical studies, industry reports,
laboratory testing or animal studies, reports of case series overseas,
reports of experiences of the techniques in Australian and New
Zealand facilities (see Appendix 1 for a list of relevant organisations
and their web-sites).
• How reliable is the evaluation?
Interpretation of assessments should include the likely robustness of
the evidence e.g. type of study design, were studies large enough to
show reliable results for morbidity and mortality; were there possible
confounding factors, such as the age of patients?
