Article type
Abstract
Background: The quality of reporting practice guidelines is often poor, and there is no widely accepted guidance or standards for such reporting in healthcare.
Objectives: To develop series reporting checklists and improve the reporting quality of practice guidelines.
Methods:
The international RIGHT (Reporting Items for Practice Guidelines in HealThcare) Working Group was established and the EQUATOR (Enhancing the QUAlity and Transparency Of health Research) Network approach was used to develop reporting checklists.
Results: The working group has developed the RIGHT checklist which includes 22 items that are considered essential for good reporting of practice guidelines. There are 10 extensions under development, including RIGHT for proposals, RIGHT for conflicts of interest, RIGHT for systematic review/meta-analysis (how to report SR/MA in a guideline), RIGHT for recommendations (how to report recommendations in a guideline), RIGHT for Traditional Medicine, RIGHT for patients’ values and preference, RIGHT for diagnosis guideline, RIGHT for equity, RIGHT for adaptation, and RIGHT for acupuncture.
Conclusions: Clear, explicit and transparent practice guidelines enable healthcare practitioners, health administrators, programme managers and the public to understand and implement recommendations that may positively affect patients and various populations. The RIGHT statement and its extensions will accelerate improvement of practice guidelines if developers endorse and comply with them.
Objectives: To develop series reporting checklists and improve the reporting quality of practice guidelines.
Methods:
The international RIGHT (Reporting Items for Practice Guidelines in HealThcare) Working Group was established and the EQUATOR (Enhancing the QUAlity and Transparency Of health Research) Network approach was used to develop reporting checklists.
Results: The working group has developed the RIGHT checklist which includes 22 items that are considered essential for good reporting of practice guidelines. There are 10 extensions under development, including RIGHT for proposals, RIGHT for conflicts of interest, RIGHT for systematic review/meta-analysis (how to report SR/MA in a guideline), RIGHT for recommendations (how to report recommendations in a guideline), RIGHT for Traditional Medicine, RIGHT for patients’ values and preference, RIGHT for diagnosis guideline, RIGHT for equity, RIGHT for adaptation, and RIGHT for acupuncture.
Conclusions: Clear, explicit and transparent practice guidelines enable healthcare practitioners, health administrators, programme managers and the public to understand and implement recommendations that may positively affect patients and various populations. The RIGHT statement and its extensions will accelerate improvement of practice guidelines if developers endorse and comply with them.