Observation intervention: time for an overview

Accessible summary • There is still a lack of research evidence about observation intervention practice and the evidence that does exist is low‐quality. • This article explores the observation literature but not in the traditional literature review sense; rather, it takes the approach of clinical and local practice and the application of the literature to practice. • The time has come to take the evidence base for observation intervention to the level of evaluation research. • Much material on the subject of observation is not published and few people at local level have an overview of how the intervention has changed over time or how the policies have been implemented. This paper aims to illustrate the nature and extent of research and development work related to observation practice over the last 28 years. It aims to show both local Scottish work and the National picture, how there is still a lack of research evidence despite all the work that has taken place and what needs to be performed to explore observation practice for the future. It is not intended to be a literature review in the traditional sense. Observation has not been studied enough to know the continuing ever‐changing picture of what goes on in the reality of practice. There are now studies examining observation but none of these are ‘gold standard’ randomized controlled trials; some are quantitative and some are qualitative audit or guidelines all based at a lower level in research evidence terms. The time has come to take the evidence base to the next level through evaluative research.