Abstract
PRIMARY TRACK
Guideline development
SECONDARY TRACK
Guideline development methods
BACKGROUND (INTRODUCTION)
Guideline developers need to follow a rigid evidence-based, timelines-driven process for producing clinical guidelines. At the National Institute for health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), we have two programs of work. The first is the standard program that produces condition-specific guidance that spans the treatment of a patient from presentation to tertiary care and takes around 24 months to develop. This program has been running successfully for over 10 years. The second, known as the short clinical guideline program, was developed to run parallel to the standard program to produce guidance quickly on topics deemed urgent by the Department of Health.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES (TRAINING GOALS)
To present the processes used at NICE within the short clinical guideline program. Developing robust evidence-based guidelines in less than 14 months.
METHODS
The method used to develop the short program used the exact same process as the full program, such as systematic searches, systematic reviews, and a guideline development group, but focuses on fewer, usually four, key clinical questions.
RESULTS
The short clinical guideline program has been successfully running for three years and has produced around six pieces of guidance, which have all been to the same quality as a full guideline but produced in less than 18 months.
DISCUSSION (CONCLUSION)
Guidelines can be produced in significantly shorter timescales to allow for topics that don't necessarily fit a full guideline. These processes follow the same robust evidence-based methods of a full guideline but are streamlined for reduced development times.
TARGET AUDIENCE(S)
Guideline developer