Guideline organizations' guidance documents paper 2: priority setting

Area of Science:

• Health Services Research
• Clinical Practice Guidelines

Background:

• Priority setting is crucial for developing relevant and efficient practice guidelines.
• Guideline development organizations (GDOs) provide guidance on their processes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the priority setting processes used by guideline-producing organizations as documented in their guidance materials.
• To identify common elements and variations in priority setting for practice guideline development.

Main Methods:

• A descriptive summary of publicly available guidance documents from guideline-producing organizations was conducted.
• Data on topic generation, methods, criteria, and refinement were abstracted independently and in duplicate.

Main Results:

• 94% of organizations reported a priority setting process, primarily for topics (94%), less so for questions (36%) and outcomes (29%).
• Generating initial lists and using criteria were common for topics and questions.
• Few organizations provided guidance on formal priority setting tools, refinement, or guideline updating/adaptation.

Conclusions:

• A majority of organizations have priority setting processes, but focus heavily on topic selection.
• There's a gap in documented guidance regarding formal tools, refinement, and adaptation.
• A standardized approach to priority setting across all guideline aspects is recommended.