eprintid: 10067662 rev_number: 30 eprint_status: archive userid: 608 dir: disk0/10/06/76/62 datestamp: 2019-02-12 12:09:42 lastmod: 2021-09-17 22:36:01 status_changed: 2019-02-12 12:09:42 type: article metadata_visibility: show creators_name: Plumb, AAO creators_name: Lambregts, D creators_name: Bellini, D creators_name: Stoker, J creators_name: Taylor, S creators_name: ESGAR Research Committee, . title: Making useful clinical guidelines: the ESGAR perspective ispublished: inpress divisions: UCL divisions: B02 divisions: C10 divisions: D17 divisions: FI6 note: © The Author(s) 2019. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). abstract: Clinical guidelines are important and influential; they can improve processes involved in patient care, thereby also improving patient outcomes. They are both commonly downloaded from journal websites and highly cited, helping clinical decision making and service commissioning. Yet, the quality of such guidelines is highly variable; a review of 279 guidelines published between 1985 and 1997 found that overall adherence to high-quality methodological standards was less than 50%. Just as Altman has argued that the misuse of statistics is unethical for primary research, it is equally inappropriate for guideline documents to recommend specific practices unless developed robustly and transparently. To do otherwise risks erroneous care, and, ultimately, patient harm. Readers of guidelines (clinicians, patients and policy-makers) require reassurance that these authoritative documents have identified, appraised and considered the available evidence, or draw attention to weaknesses in the literature if appropriate. date: 2019-02-07 date_type: published official_url: http://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-019-6002-9 oa_status: green full_text_type: pub language: eng primo: open primo_central: open_green article_type: editorial_comment article_type_text: Journal Article verified: verified_manual elements_id: 1627578 doi: 10.1007/s00330-019-6002-9 pii: 10.1007/s00330-019-6002-9 language_elements: eng lyricists_name: Plumb, Andrew lyricists_name: Taylor, Stuart lyricists_id: AAOPL55 lyricists_id: STAYL70 actors_name: Flynn, Bernadette actors_id: BFFLY94 actors_role: owner full_text_status: public publication: European Radiology event_location: Germany issn: 0938-7994 citation: Plumb, AAO; Lambregts, D; Bellini, D; Stoker, J; Taylor, S; ESGAR Research Committee, .; (2019) Making useful clinical guidelines: the ESGAR perspective. [Editorial comment]. European Radiology 10.1007/s00330-019-6002-9 <https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-019-6002-9>. (In press). Green open access document_url: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10067662/1/Plumb_Making%20useful%20clinical%20guidelines.%20The%20ESGAR%20perspective_Proof.pdf