Resources

Working paper

In this working paper we introduce the NIHR Greater Manchester Rapid Service Evaluation Team (REVAL) and outline our approach to rapid research of service delivery:

• REVAL: An overview

Taxonomy

The literature on rapid research in health and social care is extensive and growing.

This taxonomy populated with just some important papers in the field seeks to provide a structured framework for organising and understanding the body of literature in rapid research; by delineating this literature into rationale, methodology and exemplars of rapid research, we aim to facilitate navigation, synthesis, and collaboration within the field.

Rationale of rapid evaluation

• Rapid, responsive, relevant (R3) research: a call for a rapid learning health research enterprise
• New approaches to evaluating complex health and care systems
• Can We Re-imagine Research So It Is Timely, Relevant and Responsive?; Comment on “Experience of Health Leadership in Partnering with University-Based Researchers in Canada: A Call to ‘Re-Imagine’ Research”

Methodological papers

Qualitative

• Vindrola‐Padros C. Doing rapid qualitative research. Thousand Oaks, London; SAGE; 2020.
• Editorial: Rapid research in action: lessons from the field
• Vindrola-Padros C. Rapid Ethnographies: A Practical Guide. Cambridge: University of Cambridge Press; 2020.
• To scope or not to scope? The benefits and challenges of integrating scoping studies in rapid qualitative research and evaluation
• Examining What We Know in Relation to How We Know It: A Team-Based Reflexivity Model for Rapid Qualitative Health Research
• Beebe J. Rapid Qualitative Inquiry: A Field Guide to Team-Based Assessment. 2nd edn. Washington, DC: Rowman and Littlefield; 2014.

Other

• Methods of Rapid Evaluation, Assessment, and Appraisal
• Rapid evidence synthesis to enable innovation and adoption in health and social care
• Rapid evaluation of service innovations in health and social care: key considerations
• A Framework for Rigorous Qualitative Research as a Component of Mixed Method Rapid-Cycle Evaluation
• Adapting rapid assessment procedures for implementation research using a team-based approach to analysis: a case example of patient quality and safety interventions in the ICU

COVID-19

• Perspectives on the production, and use, of rapid evidence in decision making during the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative study
• Using rapid evaluation methods to assess service delivery changes: Lessons learned for evaluation practice during the COVID-19 pandemic
• Carrying Out Rapid Qualitative Research During a Pandemic: Emerging Lessons From COVID-19
• Undertaking rapid evaluations during the COVID-19 pandemic: Lessons from evaluating COVID-19 remote home monitoring services in England

Reviews of rapid research methods

• A scoping review of rapid review methods
• Rapid Evaluations of Innovations: A Scoping Review
• Quick and dirty? A systematic review of the use of rapid ethnographies in healthcare organisation and delivery
• Remote home monitoring (virtual wards) for confirmed or suspected COVID-19 patients: a rapid systematic review
• Rapid, Responsive, and Relevant?: A Systematic Review of Rapid Evaluations in Health Care
• Rapid Techniques in Qualitative Research: A Critical Review of the Literature
• Approaches to enabling rapid evaluation of innovations in health and social care: a scoping review of evidence from high-income countries
• Rapid qualitative research methods during complex health emergencies: A systematic review of the literature

• Activities used by evidence networks to promote evidence‑informed decision‑making in the health sector– a rapid evidence review

Patient and public involvement in rapid evaluation

• The role of patient and public involvement in rapid qualitative studies: Can we carry out meaningful PPIE with time pressures?
• Patient and public involvement prior to trial initiation: lessons learnt for rapid partnership in the COVID-19 era

Examples of rapid research and evaluation

Covid

• Patient and staff experiences of using technology-enabled and analogue models of remote home monitoring for COVID-19 in England: A mixed-method evaluation
• Using pulse oximeters in care homes for residents with COVID-19 and other conditions: a rapid mixed-methods evaluation
• Fulop NJ, Walton H, Crellin N, et al. A rapid mixed-methods evaluation of remote home monitoring models during the COVID-19 pandemic in England. Southampton (UK): National Institute for Health and Care Research; 2023.
• Patients’ experiences of, and engagement with, remote home monitoring services for COVID-19 patients: A rapid mixed-methods study
• Staff experiences of training and delivery of remote home monitoring services for patients diagnosed with COVID-19 in England: A mixed-methods study

Other

• Impact of telephone triage on access to primary care for people living with multiple long-term health conditions: rapid evaluation
• Rapid evaluation of the Special Measures for Quality and challenged provider regimes: a mixed-methods study
• Special Measures for Quality Improvement and Challenged Providers: Evaluating the impact of improvement interventions in NHS Trusts
• Early evidence of the development of primary care networks in England: a rapid evaluation study
• Youth violence intervention programme for vulnerable young people attending emergency departments in London: a rapid evaluation
• Prehospital video triage of potential stroke patients in North Central London and East Kent: rapid mixed-methods service evaluation
• Vertical integration of general practices with acute hospitals in England: rapid impact evaluation
• Early evaluation of the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Trailblazer Programme
• Rapid prioritisation of topics for rapid evaluation: the case of innovations in adult social care and social work

• The association of breast surgery ASPIRE: breast pain pathway rapid evaluation project – study protocol