Purchasing

Authors

Dr. Anna Donald
Sam Vincent
University College London

Introduction to evidence-based purchasing

Purchasing or commissioning care is one of the most important applications for EBM, as purchasing decisions usually affect many people, budgets and future policies. The onus on purchasers to know the evidence – and its limits – is therefore even higher than for clinicians making decisions about individual patients. Hopefully these teaching materials will help!

Other resources for evidence-based purchasing

  • Clinical Evidence: this is a collection of reviews of the literature in response to questions generated by clinicians (BMJ Publications:London)
  • Journal of Evidence-based Healthcare (Eds: Muir Gray, Anna Donald, Publisher: Churchill Livingstone: Edinburgh. This journal is published quarterly and systematically appraises about 70 journals for high quality evidence on health policy and purchasing decisions.
  • Other evidence-based journals such as: Evidence Based Medicine, ACP Journal Club, Evidence Based Nursing, Evidence Based Mental Health, Evidence Based Cardiovascular Medicine
  • Bandolier
  • Cochrane Library
  • Donald A, Greenhalgh T. Hands on guide to EBM. Blackwells: Oxford

Sample scenarios, searches, completed worksheets and CATs for evidence-based purchasing

Choose one of the following scenarios: