About the project
During the coronavirus pandemic, we were all forced to make important decisions under great pressure. The knowledge base for these decisions was still very patchy, especially at the beginning, but it grew all the more rapidly as the pandemic progressed. But how can you maintain an overview in such a flood of information? How can medicine, politics and the public get an idea of the current state of scientific evidence in such a dynamic situation?
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- Creation of "living" evidence syntheses, which were constantly kept up to date by incorporating new study results.
- Utilisation of this evidence for the development of guidelines and other recommendations for action on COVID-19.
- Target group-specific communication of evidence and recommendations for action.
Evidence-based decisions, whether in medical practices or clinics, public health services or politics, face the following challenges, among others, which were particularly pressing during the coronavirus pandemic:
- Study results must be published promptly and in full.
- Their quality must be carefully assessed.
- Results must be interpreted objectively and in a comparative overall view in the form of evidence syntheses.
- The quality-assured findings must be communicated quickly and comprehensibly to politicians, the medical and nursing professions, public health services and citizens.
- Feedback loops from the target groups back to the scientific community are needed in order to capture their perspective for future research questions and their prioritisation.
The experts in CEOsys continuously and systematically collected scientific results on COVID-19 from six defined subject areas. The analysis teams evaluated new study results and provided continuously updated overviews of results ("living evidence syntheses"). These were used to develop current recommendations for action and information, which were then made available in a target group-appropriate format. The network also developed a methodology for the standardised prioritisation of research questions and a research roadmap for clinical studies on the most urgent issues.
The work of CEOsys has had a major impact at national and international level since the start of 2021:
1. contributions of CEOsys to national guidelines
Evidence syntheses by CEOsys formed the basis for several evidence-based guidelines that were created in cooperation with the Institute for Medical Knowledge Management (IMWI) of the Association of the Scientific Medical Societies in Germany (AWMF) as a link to the medical societies.
The guideline "Measures for the prevention and control of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in schools" was first published in February 2021.
Also in February 2021, the first version of the S3 guideline on inpatient treatment of COVID-19 was published, which was subsequently updated and expanded several times on the basis of CEOsys evidence syntheses.
The guideline on outpatient treatment of COVID-19 was also upgraded to evidence-based level S2e at the end of 2021 with the help of CEOsys. These guidelines remain an important basis for relevant decisions, whether at schools and ministries of education, in GP practices or in hospitals.
2. publications
Evidence analyses by CEOsys also form the basis of a whole series of Cochrane Reviews. These systematic reviews serve as an international reference for the current state of scientific knowledge on a specific issue. In total, findings from CEOsys (including on methodological issues) have found their way into more than 40 specialist articles in high-ranking research journals.
3 Knowledge transfer, training courses and surveys
Results from CEOsys were made available to a wider audience in a variety of formats such as evidence briefs, guideline recommendations in kit-bag format, patient information or webinars.
Because knowledge transfer should not be a one-way street, CEOsys conducted surveys among the participants of a citizens' panel and among hospital staff. Topics included information needs and preferred information channels on COVID topics or the willingness of clinic employees to be vaccinated.
Highlights
Evidence analysed by CEOsys repeatedly formed the basis for updating numerous recommendations of the German S3 guideline for inpatient treatment of COVID-19. The webinars on the guideline were also a highlight in the area of communication: up to 1000 people took part in the events, in which renowned speakers explained the guideline recommendations and the underlying evidence prepared by CEOsys.
Lasting added value of CEOsys: The extremely successful integration of methodology and clinical practice in a large, multidisciplinary network, which was established in a very short time, has important, lasting value as a blueprint for the future. The theoretical concept of the evidence ecosystem has proven itself in practical application and can be utilised in future in epidemic emergencies as well as in the better management of known widespread diseases. The expertise gained has also been incorporated into new projects under the umbrella of NUM since 2022.