Modelling clinical narrative as computable knowledge: The NICE computable implementation guidance project.

Introduction: Translating narrative clinical guidelines to computable knowledge is a long-standing challenge that has seen a diverse range of approaches. The UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) Content Advisory Board (CAB) aims ultimately to (1) guide clinical decision support and other software developers to increase traceability, fidelity and consistency in supporting clinical use of NICE recommendations, (2) guide local practice audit and intervention to reduce unwarranted variation, (3) provide feedback to NICE on how future recommendations should be developed.

Objectives: The first phase of work was to explore a range of technical approaches to transition NICE toward the production of natively digital content.

Comparison of howRU and EQ-5D measures of health-related quality of life in an outpatient clinic.

This paper reports on a head-to-head study of howRU and EQ-5D on patients with cardiovascular disease. howRU is a short generic measure of health-related quality of life comprising 39 words, designed for routine use, which we compare with EQ-5D (230 words). Patients attending a clinic completed both instruments.

Evaluation of a new short generic measure of health status: howRu.

Background: Quality of life is paramount for patients and clinicians, but existing measures of health were not developed for routine use.

Objectives: This paper describes the development and testing of a new generic tool for measuring health related quality of life (HRQoL) with direct comparison to the SF-12 Health Survey.

Methods: The new tool (howRu) has four items (discomfort, distress, disability and dependence), rated using four levels (none, a little, quite a lot and extreme), providing 256 possible states (4(4)); it has an aggregate scoring scheme with a range from 0 (worst) to 12 (best).

Comparing outcomes of cataract surgery: challenges and opportunities.

Background: There is an increasing demand for routine assessment of surgical outcomes. However, for assessments to be valid, it is essential to understand the influence of patient characteristics on outcomes. The VF-14 visual function instrument offers a possible means of monitoring outcomes of cataract surgery.