Review of Protocols

Public consultation on the protocols is now closed

Thank you for your feedback.

The protocols will be finalised and then published to the RCPA webpage.

Review of Protocols

The melanoma, prostate, lung, colorectal and lymphoma protocols have been developed to final draft stage. This development process has involved a series of meetings, teleconferences and document review via email. Each protocol is being professionally edited and the first round of editing for all protocols is expected by 31st July 2009. As the editing of each protocol is completed, it will be posted to this site for a period of 28 days for open consultation.
Your feedback is invited about the content and format of these draft protocols.

All feedback will be reviewed by the relevant expert committee providing the following criteria are met:

The “Protocol Review Form” on the website is used
All mandatory information is completed. Mandatory fields are indicated by greyed out text stating “Mandatory”
The due date is met. The due date will be 28 days following the protocol being posted on the website.
The form is submitted by pressing the “Submit by Email” button and emailed to StructuredPath@cancerinstitute.org.au (Note to Apple Mac users - to retain formatting and functionality to enable submission via email you must open the forms in Adobe Reader or Adobe Acrobat, not in Preview)

Click here to download the Protocol Review Form

Specific notes on completing the review form:

Feedback Review Process:

1. Protocol removed from website after 28 days

2. All feedback collated, with comments of a similar nature grouped

3. Expert group will review comments and assign an action. Action will include:

3.1 Feedback accepted by group - protocol updated
3.2 Feedback rejected by group - protocol not updated
3.3 Feedback put in on-hold for review at future revisions – protocol not updated

A consensus process will be used to evaluate feedback. The method to be used is consistent with the Accreditation Board for Standards Development Organisations (ABSDO). This means that 80% of the expert group must vote and 67% must agree for an item to be accepted.

4. A summary feedback will be made available once the protocols are finalised.

Specific notes on completing the protocol review form:

Contact Information

Complete this section with the relevant details.The following fields are mandatory in case we need to contact you about your comments:
First Name; Last Name; Organisation/Affiliation; Position; Tel; Email

Protocol Details

Please select the protocol you are commenting about from the drop down list. This relates to the title on the front page of the protocol. A new review form is required for each protocol that you are submitting feedback about.

Comments and Proposed Changes

All feedback must be referenced clearly so that the expert group can effectively review comments. In each form you can submit up to 5 comments. If you wish to make more than 5 comments, another form must be completed.

The following information needs to be completed for all comments:

Page number please state the page number that your comment relates to. Only enter the number, do not enter page e.g. 10, NOT page 10. If your comment relates to the whole document leave this field blank.
Section/Chapter – please select from the drop down list. If it is a comment of a general nature there is an option for this in the list.
Standard, Guideline or Commentary Number – please state the specific number that your comment relates to. For example if your comment relates to CS2.01, this is what should be stated in this field.
Comments – enter your comments here. Be as specific as possible, including any relevant background information and supporting evidence.
Proposed change including references where applicable – if your comments are indicating you do not agree with what is written you should submit a modified version, including references where applicable.

Note 1: Documents can be attached to the form e.g. a specific piece of evidence or a data table. Just attach in the relevant field.

Note 2: if you do not want to complete the form in one go you can save it to your PC. Within the form just select “Save As” with the File menu.

The Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia, Cancer Australia and the Cancer Institute NSW would like to thank you for taking the time to comment on these draft documents.

If you have any questions regarding the above process please contact:

Meagan.Judge@cancerinstitute.org.au or StructuredPath@cancerinstitute.org.au
(02) 8374 3555