[Methods in evidence-based medicine consensus findings--a case study in trauma surgery]

The methods and processes of a guideline development programme including a structured consensus conference for the employment of Diagnostic Imaging in Trauma Surgery are presented and critically reviewed. International standards and methodical concepts described in the Guideline Manual by the Agency for Quality in Medicine (AQuMed) and the Association of the Scientific Medical Societies in Germany (AWMF) have been implemented. Experiences with this project reveal that even a small multidisciplinary panel group is potentially able to cope with the comprehensive panel work if they are methodologically supported. The establishment of an internal quality management proved to be a useful tool for the production of high-quality results in the face of limited project resources. As expected, for most sub-questions knowledge of evidence and medical experience correlated well. However, the lack of a method for ensuring that consensus recommendations finally obtained by panel work and discussions during the conference were always based on evidence was the weak spot of this evidence-based consensus conference.