IDEAL Conference 2016

Evaluating innovation in surgery and therapeutic technology: the IDEAL approach, #IDEAL2016 The IDEAL Collaboration Conference 2016 was held at St Catherine’s College, Oxford on 7 April. The conference examined how

Evaluating innovation in surgery and therapeutic technology: the IDEAL approach, #IDEAL2016

The IDEAL Collaboration Conference 2016 was held at St Catherine’s College, Oxford on 7 April. The conference examined how to create a pathway for the effective scientific evaluation of modern surgical treatments, with a focus on the potential of the IDEAL Framework and Recommendations as an evaluation template.

The effective scientific evaluation of modern surgery and other invasive therapeutic interventions based on technology has become an increasingly important issue because of the lack of a clear pathway and the rate at which new technological innovation has increased. Surgical treatments can often be complex and are challenging to evaluate in a way which provides valid evidence of safety, efficacy and cost-effectiveness. This imposes problems on regulators and purchasers of treatment who need to make evidence-based decisions about them.

This year’s conference focused on:

  • How to evaluate surgical and other therapeutic technology appropriately throughout its development and initial clinical use
  • Examples of successful innovative therapeutic technology and its evaluation in Oxford and internationally
  • Experience of using the IDEAL Recommendations to evaluate surgical technology
  • Industry perspectives on innovation and evaluation
  • Special focus on the evaluation of robotic surgery
  • How device regulation and technology purchasing can be appropriately evidence-based
  • New methodological ideas in evaluation of technological innovation
  • Ethical considerations in surgical research
  • The role and potential of the IDEAL Recommendations will be discussed by plenary lecturers in relation to a range of these aspects of evaluating technology.

The Conference Programme:

Programme

Click to download a PDF of the programme

The IDEAL Scientific Committee:

Peter McCulloch, Allison Hirst, Art Sedrakyan, Philipp Dahm, David Beard, Bruce Campbell, Jonathan Cook, Sean Kehoe, Sally Hopewell, Guy Maddern, Bill Summerskill

Many thanks to the following for sponsoring/supporting this year’s conference:

  • Major sponsor:  Oxford AHSN
  • Sponsors:  Johnson & Johnson, The Health Foundation and Medtronic Inc.
  • Supporters:  The Lancet, The British Medical Journal

For further information contact: ideal-conference@nds.ox.ac.uk