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This chapter describes the nine guiding principles underlying the guideline development process. They are as follows:
• processes for guideline development and evaluation should be outcome focused;
• guidelines should be based on the best available evidence and should include a statement about the strength of recommendations;
• the method used to synthesise the available evidence should be the strongest applicable;
• the process of guideline development should be multidisciplinary and should include consumers;
• guidelines should be flexible and capable of adapting to varying local conditions;
• guidelines should be developed with resource constraints in mind;
• guidelines should be developed, disseminated and implemented taking into account their target audiences;
• the validity and usefulness of the guidelines should be evaluated; and
• guidelines should be revised regularly.
2.1 Guideline development and evaluation
The process for guideline development should be aimed at identifying interventions that will ensure the best possible health outcomes.
A health outcome has been defined as ‘a change in the health of an individual, a group of people or population which is attributable to an intervention or a series of interventions’ (AHMAC 1993). Donabedian describes outcomes as ‘what is accomplished for patients’ and points out that they reflect the ‘contribution of all those who provide care’ as well as the ‘appropriateness of the choice of a strategy of care’ (1992b).
Outcome measures can range from survival rates to quality-of-life attributes. Outcomes can be positive or negative and may differ according to population group—for example, socio-economic group, gender, or current health or risk factor status.
To date much of the evaluation of health care has centred around the process of health care (whether clinicians conform to recommended practices), rather than the outcomes (whether the recommended practices produce a change in health). Whilst the ultimate goal of the guideline-evaluation process should be to establish the degree to which the guidelines are effective in producing the health outcomes
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