MedNytt - a Norwegian database with early assessments of new and emerging technologies
MedNytt is a database containing early assessments of new and emerging health technologies. The database is owned by the Norwegian Knowledge Centre for the Health Services (NOKC). The aim of MedNytt is to support the decision makers and healthcare workers in the Norwegian health care services with identifying and assessing new medical technologies. The database covers methods for diagnostics, drugs, procedures and medical equipment for a broad range of categories.
Every month, the databases of the international collaborators of NOKC are scanned for early assessments of new technologies. Links to the assessments are published in MedNytt. All early assessment titles are translated into Norwegian to facilitate search in Norwegian as well as in English. Norwegian abstracts and additional information about dissemination, regulatory status and costs in Norway, are published for selected technologies each month.
MedNytt also has a feature where decision makers and health care workers can order early assessments for technologies not already in the database, or updates of existing early assessments. In these cases, NOKC makes a systematic review of the evidence and possible costs of the new technology. These assessments are published in MedNytt, and they are among others used as documentation in guideline processes and in considerations and recommendations on quality and priority issues by the Norwegian Council for Quality Improvement and Priority Setting in Health Care. These services are delivered free of charge. English versions of these assessments are published in the European Euroscan database.
What is an early assessment?
An early assessment is a systematic review of evidence and possible costs of new diagnostics and treatment. Early assessments are mostly based on only a few published studies, since new diagnostics and treatments are still in early stages of use. Conclusions may therefore change in the future when more studies are available. We aim to assess the new technologies at the time when they are about to be introduced into the health care system.
