Open Access 01-12-2006 | Review
Improving the use of research evidence in guideline development: 14. Reporting guidelines
Published in: Health Research Policy and Systems | Issue 1/2006
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Background
Objectives
Methods
Key questions and answers
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WHO should develop standard formats for reporting recommendations to facilitate recognition and use by decision makers for whom the recommendations are intended, and to ensure that all the information needed to judge the quality of a guideline, determine its applicability and, if needed, adapt it, is reported.
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WHO should develop standard formats for full systematically developed guidelines that are sponsored by WHO, rapid assessments, and guidelines that are endorsed by WHO.
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All three formats should include the same information as full guidelines, indicating explicitly what the group preparing the guideline did not do, as well as the methods that were used.
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These formats should be used across clinical, public health and health systems recommendations.
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Reports should be structured, using headings that correspond to those suggested by the Conference on Guideline Standardization or similar headings.
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The quality of evidence and strength of recommendations should be reported explicitly using a standard approach.
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The way in which recommendations are formulated should be adapted to the specific characteristics of a specific guideline.
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Urgent attention should be given to developing a template that provides decision makers with the relevant global evidence that is needed to inform a decision and offers practical methods for incorporating the context specific evidence and judgements that are needed.