The IDEAL Collaboration Meeting (Idea, Development, Exploration, Assessment and Long-term monitoring): evaluation during the life-cycle of surgical innovation.

Surgical procedures are complex interventions, whose characteristics pose serious challenges to developing high quality randomised controlled trials. These include the difficulty in defining surgical procedures precisely, iterative modification of procedures by surgeons during development, lack of agreed standard outcomes in surgery, operator learning curves, variable procedural quality as well as strong treatment preferences among patients and clinicians. Surgical innovations frequently gain acceptance based on evidence from biased observational studies. Recognition of these difficulties led to the development of the Idea, Development, Exploration, Assessment and Long-term follow-up (IDEAL) Framework and Recommendations, to establish a more scientifically rigorous and ethical evaluation pathway. (Hirst A, et al. No Surgical Innovation Without Evaluation: Evolution and Further Development of the IDEAL Framework and Recommendations. Ann Surg. 2019 Feb; 269(2):211-220.)

Target Audience: Surgeons, non-clinical research professionals and industry representatives involved in planning, conducting and publishing surgical or device related evaluation studies. Trainees from all disciplines wishing to understand more about surgical research methods will find this meeting helpful.
Highlights of the day: Understand how IDEAL is applicable in the healthcare innovation process and the future challenges for the evolution of IDEAL.