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A Collaboration Brief
A collaboration brief brings the problem, proposed use, supporting evidence and unresolved questions into one clear document.
#State the question and proposed change
NICE's digital health framework asks for a clear intended purpose and population, a description of the current pathway or process and the proposed process using the technology. It also asks for expected health, cost and resource impacts. These are useful prompts for an initial healthcare collaboration brief because they make the proposed work understandable before roles or resources are promised.
Describe the question, setting and proposed output in plain language. Keep an expected benefit separate from an established finding. The brief is a starting point for discussion, not a claim that a partner has agreed, a clinical service exists or an evaluation has already happened.
Evidence: NICE: digital health evidence standards
#Distinguish the brief from the agreement
NIHR's collaboration guidance says that arrangements should be formally managed in a way suited to the particular context. For NIHR-funded research, this is most often a collaboration agreement. It also explains that third-party arrangements must be consistent with the NIHR research contract and may need review before execution. Templates are starting points, not substitutes for an agreement suited to the work.
An initial brief can list proposed participants, contributions and questions that need agreement. Do not write an organisation's involvement as confirmed until it is confirmed. NIHR's guidance concerns its funded research; this page is not contract advice, a model agreement or evidence of a Mynd partnership.
#Keep dependencies and decisions visible
NICE's deployment standards ask for descriptions of input data, data flows, infrastructure, communication and training. Its performance standard 16 asks the company and evaluator to agree a plan for measuring usage and changes in performance over time. These details help distinguish a general idea from a proposed evaluation with defined requirements.
In a brief, identify which inputs and responsibilities are proposed, which are available and which still need agreement. State the decision the work is meant to inform without promising the result. A brief does not grant access to health data, approve a study or authorise a change in care. Mynd provides this as educational collaboration literacy, not an offer of facilities, participants or clinical oversight.
Evidence: NICE: digital health evidence standards / NICE: how to meet the digital health evidence standards
Source note
The sections above were checked against the linked sources. No clinical review has been performed. This is general research education, not a clinical guideline.