ObjectivesTo systematically evaluate the structure, publication type and contents of current guidelines for guideline development, so as to provide methodology references for guideline development in China. MethodsSix biomedical research literature databases, six guideline databases and 18 websites of academic institutions and health administrative departments were searched to locate guidelines for guideline development. We included the latest versions of guidelines from guideline development departments or academic institutions. We extracted information consisting of general guideline information, structure, principles, methods and procedure of guideline development. A descriptive analysis was conducted to analyze the general information, structure, principles, methods and procedure of guidelines among different guidelines for guideline development. ResultsAmong all the included 25 guidelines for guideline development published from 1998 to 2014, 50% of them were from North America. Structure of these guidelines were similar while detail levels of recommended guideline development methods and procedures were slightly different. The guideline development groups, systematic literature search, evidence assessment and recommendation formulation were vital part of guideline development. The ineffective promotion and implementation of guidelines for guideline development were common problems of current guidelines. ConclusionsProcedures recommended by current guidelines for guideline development are almost the same, but the methods and statements are different. We could develop our own guideline for guideline development based on the current relative high-quality guideline in order to provide guidance to the clinical guideline development in China.
ObjectiveThe guideline is formulated to standardize the principles, procedures and methods of developing therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) guidelines and to promote open, transparent, scientific and credibility of the TDM guidelines.MethodsDivision of Therapeutic Drug Monitoring, Chinese Pharmacological Society established guideline working groups, declared and managed conflict of interest. The guideline working groups used the Delphi method to formulate the purpose and scope of the guideline and questions in PICO format, searched and synthesized evidence, integrated with Chinese actual situation and TDM characteristics to preliminarily develop recommendations for the guideline for TDM guideline development in China. Through internal discussion of the guideline working groups and external peer review, the content has been improved, and we eventually formulated the guideline suitable for guiding TDM related guidelines development.ResultsThe guideline provide suggestions for problems to be identified and solved in the planning, development, publishing and updating stages of TDM guidelines including forming guideline wording groups, planning guidelines, declaration and management of interests, formulating questions and selecting outcomes, preparing the planning proposal, retrieval and synthesis evidence, evaluating evidence, developing recommendations, drafting guidelines, external review, publishing and spreading guidelines, evaluating guidelines, and updating guidelines.ConclusionsThis guideline can provide methodological guidance and reference for the development of TDM guidelines.