Secondary Sources - Guidelines

These are ‘systematically developed statements to assist practitioner and patient decisions about appropriate health care for specific clinical circumstances." They may vary in their evidence base and in the methodology by which they are compiled. In general, ‘consensus’ guidelines (produced when a group of experts reach an agreement) have most room for error. Guidelines in which the strength of the evidence base is graded are stronger. Guidelines formulated according to ‘EBM’ principles are strongest.

All guidelines go out of date eventually – check the date and estimate the ‘shelf-life’ if the authors have not specified one. Some sites that address guideline appraisal are listed at the end of this section.