Staff at the Department of behavioural medicine at the Institute of Medical Basic Sciences recently welcomed a new colleague in professor Per Olav Vandvik. Among other initiatives, he founded the Magic Evidence Ecosystem foundation, which works on keeping knowledge up to date through clinical guidelines and digital decision support.
“I have spent a great deal of time in both clinical practice and teaching. I am committed to evidence-based medicine combined with a holistic and humanistic view on how we can best serve our patients,” he says.
Vandvik previously held a professor II position at Helsam and has done clinical work at Lovisenberg Diaconal Hospital.
Faster updating of recommendations
It has been common for several years to pass between revisions of clinical guidelines.
“Covid 19 led to a breakthrough for ‘living guidelines’, with record fast updates in a matter of weeks. This was made possible by new technology and innovation support to organisations such as the World Health Organization (WHO),” the professor says.
Vandvik points out that medical progress moves so quickly that long revision cycles leave guidance seriously out of date.
“At Magic we collaborate with the British Medical Journal (BMJ) on so called rapid recommendations. We recruit a panel in which it is important that no one has conflicts of interest. The panel then works swiftly to produce new recommendations for large patient groups based on current research. These are peer reviewed and published in the BMJ. WHO’s Covid 19 guidelines were also published in this way. Ten such rapid recommendations are planned for 2026,” he says.
Researching how people make decisions
In his research, Vandvik combines this work with behavioural medicine.
“It is not enough just to develop guidelines. It is equally important to study how people make decisions and use knowledge. How much do we trust the information we are given, and how are we influenced by the way it is presented? What does it take to change behaviour? Research must also be translated into a format that people understand and can use,” says the new professor.