New era for European Respiratory Society clinical practice guidelines: joining efficiency and high methodological standards

What is it about?

One of the most important tasks of a scientific society is the development of clinical practice guidelines (CPGs). The objectives of CPGs are to improve the quality and efficiency of healthcare, to reduce unjustified variations in the practices of diagnosis and treatment and to improve patient outcomes. In order to fulfill these objectives, CPGs have to be evidence-based. The current guidelines, albeit methodologically rigorous, may not be so useful for the practicing clinician, who still has to make decisions for several aspects that may not be covered in the final document. The ERS has decided to implement a new process of development of CPGs that combines a summary of best available evidence and strict methodology with narrative questions that cover aspects that cannot be addressed by the previous methodology. The advantages of this new approach would be that the CPG will be more adapted to the complexity of clinical decision making and should be better understood and accepted by clinicians,

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