CHARACTERISTICS OF HIGH-QUALITY GUIDELINES Journal Articles

abstract

• Objectives: To identify predictors of high-quality clinical practice guidelines.Methods: A total of 86 guidelines from 11 countries were assessed by four independent appraisers per guideline using the AGREE instrument (23 items). Six aspects of guideline development were considered to explain the variation in quality scores: care level (primary/secondary care), scope (diagnosis/treatment), type of guideline (new/update), year of publication, type of agency (governmental/professional), and whether the guideline was produced within a structured and coordinated program.Results: Guidelines produced within a guideline program and by governmental agencies had higher scores than their counterparts. Differences in the applicability of the guidelines could not be explained by the variables studied.Conclusions: To ensure high quality, clinical guidelines should be produced within a structured and coordinated program. Professional organizations or specialist societies that aim to develop guidelines may adopt quality criteria from leading guideline agencies.

authors

• Burgers, Jako S
• Cluzeau, Françoise A
• Hanna, Steven Edward
• Hunt, Claire
• Grol, Richard

status

• published 

publication date

• January 2003

has subject area

• 1117 Public Health and Health Services (FoR)
• 1402 Applied Economics (FoR)
• Canada (MeSH)
• Consensus (MeSH)
• Europe (MeSH)
• Health Policy (MeSH)
• Health Policy & Services (Science Metrix)
• Health Services Research (MeSH)
• Humans (MeSH)
• Practice Guidelines as Topic (MeSH)
• Quality Indicators, Health Care (MeSH)

published in

• International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care  Journal

keywords

• Canada
• Consensus
• Europe
• Health Policy
• Health Services Research
• Humans
• Practice Guidelines as Topic
• Quality Indicators, Health Care

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

• 10.1017/s026646230300014x

PubMed ID

• 12701947

start page

• 148

end page

• 157

volume

• 19

issue

• 1