title: eviQ cancer treatments online: how does the web-based protocol system fare in a comprehensive quality assessment?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  There have been few evaluations of the quality of computerized decision support tools in medical oncology despite their widespread use in clinical practice. In this article, we provide an in-depth quality assessment of eviQ, an Australian web-based protocol system.
  
  
  METHODS
  We used the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation (AGREE-II) instrument to examine the quality of eviQ chemotherapy protocols across six domains: scope and purpose, stakeholder involvement, rigor of development, clarity of presentation, applicability, editorial independence and overall quality rating. Domain scores were categorized as high quality (scores of >70%), moderate quality (30-70%), and low quality (<30%).
  
  
  RESULTS
  eviQ was rated highly with respect to articulating its scope and purpose, clarity of presentation, applicability and on the overall rating item (scores of 72-80%). Domains addressing the involvement of stakeholders in the development process and the rigor with which protocols were developed were of moderate quality (scores of 34-37%) and the management of editorial independence and conflict of interest issues were rated in the low quality range (22%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our evaluation demonstrated the eviQ protocol system is generally of high quality. However, we identified a number of areas in which eviQ could improve either its development processes or the means by which these processes are communicated to end-users. This research represents the first comprehensive evaluation of oncology protocols and paves the way for continued quality assurance research to ensure that these tools meet their objective of facilitating evidence-based medicine, standardizing treatment and, ultimately, improving patient outcomes.
authors.affiliation: Lowy Cancer Research Centre, Adult Cancer Program, Prince of Wales Clinical School, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Julia M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Langton
authors.forename: Sallie-Anne
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Pearson
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*; D003658:Decision Making, Computer-Assisted; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008490:Medical Informatics; D008495:Medical Oncology / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D019095:Point-of-Care Systems; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D011786:Quality Control; D012509:Sarcoma / Q000188:drug therapy*