Development and Updating of Clinical Practice Guidelines-The Necessity of International Collaboration

Development and updating of clinical practice guidelines requires substantial resources. The Knowledge Institute of the Dutch Association of Medical Specialists has extensive experience in supporting the development of medical specialist guidelines in close partnership with the Netherlands Patient Federation, and is a long standing and active member of the Guidelines International Network. Based on the evaluation of an international pilot project in obstetrics, we propose a model for international collaboration: jointly identifying and prioritizing shared clinical questions, dividing the development of evidence summaries across countries, and exchanging these summaries so national guideline groups can develop context-specific considerations and recommendations. International collaboration can improve guideline quality, make optimal use of available scientific knowledge, and increase efficiency. With this paper, we call on guideline development organizations in other countries to collaborate in exchanging evidence summaries, so that all parties can benefit from more efficient guideline development.