Impact 241 Impact The aim of this thesis is to facilitate and improve guideline development concerning healthcare related testing. To achieve this goal, the research findings presented in this thesis should be implemented in practice to have an impact on guideline development, and ultimately, on healthcare quality and people-important outcomes. This chapter discusses the valorisation potential of the research conducted in this thesis. The thesis examines the challenges of developing guidelines for healthcare related testing and proposes solutions to overcome these challenges. Additionally, it defines the knowledge required for developing guideline recommendations on healthcare related testing and provides a tool to facilitate the specification of the testmanagement pathway to achieve impact on people-important outcomes. The results described in this thesis may be of relevance to various groups including 1) healthcare professionals and healthcare consumers, especially those participating in guideline panels, 2) guideline methodologists and chairs, and 3) guideline trainers. Healthcare professionals and healthcare consumers Healthcare professionals and consumers can benefit from the research conducted in this thesis, either directly through their participation in guideline panels, or indirectly in healthcare practice. The thesis focuses on guideline development, which occurs in guideline panels. Guideline panel members will be better able to fulfil their role if they are equipped with the necessary knowledge. For example, if guideline panel members are fully aware that the clinical effectiveness of testing is determined by evaluating the test-management pathway and that guideline panel members are able to interpret false positive and false negative test results in terms of people-important outcomes, they may be less likely to rely on test accuracy results solely. Additionally, the step-bystep guide for specifying the test-management pathway can assist guideline panel members in formulating focused questions about healthcare related testing. An online tool could further facilitate this process. The creation of such a tool is a priority in projects aimed at facilitating the implementation of methods. This tool could be integrated in software, such as the guideline development tool (GRADEpro by McMaster University and Evidence Prime). In healthcare practice, healthcare professionals and consumers could also benefit from the knowledge generated in this thesis. If implemented properly, guidelines on healthcare related testing would be more transparent about the net benefits of testing, based on the evaluation of the evidence throughout the entire test-management pathway. This could result in more detailed guideline recommendations concerning testing, which may result in more awareness about the benefits and harms of testing
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