What makes a 'good' guideline a 'good' one? It could be its ease of finding at 03:33. Maybe it is the clarity of figure 2, which takes you through the path of findings, tests and then actions which follow. Is it the level of detail which satisfies your curiosity without drowning you in detail? All those things certainly make a guideline a 'good' one ... but perhaps 'easy to use' rather than 'good quality'.We mentioned last time that you could end up checking a guideline using the AGREE (Appraisal of Guidelines, REsearch and Evalu-ation)-II checklist. This covers not so much the 'can I use it' but the 'can I trust it?' elements of goodness. It will suggest you look at the areas covered, the technique used to source the papers, how the team assessed the risks of bias and closeness to the usual patient group, and how they combined it all with clinical and patient expertise-free of undue influence-to get to their final recommendations.Those might sound like the key steps of doing evidence-based medicine ... and they are. Good in guidelines is like good in other studies; you have the skills, go use them!
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