Surgical Guideline Appraisal

Clinical practice guidelines are tools to guide clinical practice and support decision-making by surgeons. Thus, guideline appraisal is an essential competency for any surgeon. This chapter outlines a structured approach to clinical practice guideline appraisal for surgeons by applying the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation—extension for surgical guidelines (AGREE-S) tool through a working case example. It is crucial for surgeons to consider the scope of the clinical practice guideline, the comprehensiveness and appropriateness of stakeholder involvement, the quality of evidence synthesis, the approach to the development of guideline recommendations, the importance of editorial independence, and its implementation and monitoring. Surgeons, healthcare professionals, and researchers will benefit from the development and implementation of high-quality surgical guidelines to facilitate evidence-based, patient-centered surgical care.