Volume 184 - Issue 4
Evidence in palliative care research: how should it be gathered?
Authors: Jennifer Tieman and David C Currow
Med J Aust 2006; 184 (4): 196-198. || doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2006.tb00191.x
Published online: 20 February 2006
Published online: 20 February 2006
Jennifer Tieman,* David C Currow†
* Project Manager, † Head, Department of Palliative and Supportive Services, Flinders University, c/- Repatriation General Hospital, 700 Goodwood Road, Daw Park, SA 5041. Jennifer.TiemanATflinders.edu.au
To the Editor: Aoun and Kristjanson’s viewpoint on palliative care research reminds us of the possible limitations of an evidence schema that is built on efficacy of intervention studies.1 For emerging fields and for care areas that cross disciplines, the possible sources of useful knowledge to guide practice — particularly in advance of the establishment of a significant evidence base — need to be recognised and valued.
To further complicate the gathering of evidence for such fields are the difficulties of accessing useful knowledge. Preliminary research on search strategies suggests that even good quality searches may recover fewer than half the articles relevant to palliative care in the general biomedical literature.2 More disturbing is the possibility that much of the research and thought in this field is not published, and therefore cannot be easily and actively searched.
In a systematic review of publication rates associated with conference presentation, the usual publication rate was seen to be around 45%.3 A recent investigation into publication rates associated with conference presentation in palliative care in Australia suggests a “conversion” rate of less than 20%.4 Publication represents an important step in the spectrum of knowledge dissemination. Such a low rate of publication of conference abstracts therefore represents a significant loss of information, opinion and evidence for the discipline of palliative care.
Evidence issues for complex and emerging areas are complicated not only by the restrictions of an evidence hierarchy that is intervention based, but also by the difficulties in searching and retrieving existing knowledge and evidence in such fields.
References
- Aoun SM, Kristjanson LJ. Evidence in palliative care research: how should it be gathered? Med J Aust 2005; 183: 264-266.
- Sladek R, Tieman J, Fazekas B, et al. Developing and validating a palliative care subject search filter. Oral presentation at the 3rd International Evidence Based Librarianship Conference. Evolution of evidence. Brisbane, Oct 2005. Available at: http://conferences.alia.org.au/ebl2005/program.html (accessed Oct 2005).
- von Elm E, Costanza MC, Walder B, et al. More insight into the fate of biomedical meeting abstracts: a systematic review. BMC Med Res Methodol 2003; 3: 12. Epub 2003 Jul 10. 0_CHDFCHGI
- Tieman J, Abernethy A, Fazekas B, et al. CareSearch: finding and evaluating Australia’s missing palliative care literature. BMC Palliat Care 2005; 4: 4. 0_i1091548
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