Procedures and Requirements for Meeting the NHMRC Standards for Clinical Practice Guidelines – draft version 2.0

Procedures and requirements for meeting the NHMRC Standards for clinical practice guidelines have been updated. Developers should note the following key differences from version 1.2:

Composition of the guideline development group

• A strengthened focus on equity to ensure that NHMRC-approved guidelines address disparities and promote fairness in healthcare delivery. Updates to requirements include specific requirements for a representative guideline development group and greater attention to the unique needs of population groups requiring special considerations in prevention, diagnosis or treatment (See Requirements A).

Reviewing the Evidence

• Refinements to requirements for reviewing evidence to enhance the quality and robustness of NHMRC-approved recommendations, aligning the requirements with the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) framework.
• New requirement for a narrative summary of the evidence and judgements that the guideline development group used to inform each recommendation.
• New requirement around reporting when evidence is used from other published guidelines via adoption/adaptation guideline development processes.

Recommendations

• New requirement around the reporting of adapted/adopted recommendations from other published guidelines.
• New requirement to provide a date for review of the recommendation

Public Consultation

• New requirements to enhance the reach and scope of public consultations for guidelines seeking NHMRC approval, including a requirement to publish a summary demonstrating how public input has been considered and incorporated.

Documents for approval – flexible formats

• Guidelines can be published in a variety of formats, including on online platforms. Amendments to the Requirements allow for the information requested in the administrative report to be published within the guideline or the technical report so long as it is accessible and includes all the information outlined in Appendix B under Administrative Report.

Innovations in guideline development:

• Updates allow for recommendations to be developed using the living guideline development model, adopt/adapt approaches and accommodate guidelines published on online platforms such as MAGICapp.

Implementation

• New requirements have been incorporated to promote the effective implementation of NHMRC-approved guidelines in clinical practice. Updates mandate that guideline developers engage with stakeholders specifically on implementation, describe any implementation barriers in the guideline and provide suggestions for overcoming them.