ObjectiveTo analyse the quality of implementation in clinical application guidelines of the Chinese patent medicines for the treatment of common diseases. MethodsWe retrieved clinical application guidelines of the Chinese patent medicines for the treatment of common diseases published from February, 2019 to August, 2022 in databases. The clinical practice guideline (CPG) implementation evaluation tool was used to evaluate the implementation of the included guidelines. ResultsA total of 29 guidelines were included. The implementation quality of included guidelines was moderate. Thirteen (44.8%) were high quality and 16 (55.2%) were moderate quality. ConclusionThe quality of implementation of clinical application guidelines of the Chinese patent medicines for the treatment of common diseases is higher than that of other traditional Chinese medicine CPG. The CPG implementation evaluation tool can be used in traditional Chinese medicine CPGs and particularity of TCM should also be considered.
In the process of formulation, traditional Chinese medicine clinical practice guidelines are often faced with the dilemma of lack of evidence. Guidelines development groups tend to make final decisions based on expert experience or expert opinion, but the limitations of cognitive bias reduce the credibility and transparency of the guidelines. By clarifying the difference between the expert experience and expert opinion and expert evidence, the expert evidence of traditional Chinese medicine discipline advantages and necessity, providing the recommendation form link using expert evidence methodology design and implementation details, retaining the empirical characteristics of traditional Chinese medicine and improving the lack of evidence, has certain practical application value.