Article type
Abstract
Background:
The aim of the European Commission Initiative on Colorectal Cancer (ECICC) and the European colorectal cancer guidelines is to provide health care users, providers, and policymakers, guidance on implementing primary prevention strategies, population-based screening program, and the organization of diagnostic procedures through evidence-based recommendations.
Objectives:
We aimed to develop a web-based tool that could benefit the development of the European colorectal cancer guidelines by providing a visual analytical framework and a dataset of health care questions addressed in other guidelines.
Methods:
Based on a systematic review of existing guidelines and recommendations for colorectal cancer, we developed (1) a dataset of health care questions, expressed as population, intervention, and comparisons, and (2) an analytical framework consisting of diagrams visualizing the potentially relevant topics and health care questions. These were refined through input from the ECICC working group and made accessible as a web-based tool.
Results:
The tool allows users to explore the health care questions already addressed in other guidelines, with the use of user-friendly components, such as topic selection, filter population by age and risk category, or interventions. The tool is greatly beneficial to the development of the European colorectal cancer guidelines and was already employed to inform the prioritization of health care questions and the adolopment of existing recommendations and to monitor the progress of guideline development.
Conclusions:
Following our methodology, we successfully developed a web-based tool that allowed for summarizing a large amount of information and making it easily accessible. Based on our experience, this preparatory work can streamline the guideline development process.
The aim of the European Commission Initiative on Colorectal Cancer (ECICC) and the European colorectal cancer guidelines is to provide health care users, providers, and policymakers, guidance on implementing primary prevention strategies, population-based screening program, and the organization of diagnostic procedures through evidence-based recommendations.
Objectives:
We aimed to develop a web-based tool that could benefit the development of the European colorectal cancer guidelines by providing a visual analytical framework and a dataset of health care questions addressed in other guidelines.
Methods:
Based on a systematic review of existing guidelines and recommendations for colorectal cancer, we developed (1) a dataset of health care questions, expressed as population, intervention, and comparisons, and (2) an analytical framework consisting of diagrams visualizing the potentially relevant topics and health care questions. These were refined through input from the ECICC working group and made accessible as a web-based tool.
Results:
The tool allows users to explore the health care questions already addressed in other guidelines, with the use of user-friendly components, such as topic selection, filter population by age and risk category, or interventions. The tool is greatly beneficial to the development of the European colorectal cancer guidelines and was already employed to inform the prioritization of health care questions and the adolopment of existing recommendations and to monitor the progress of guideline development.
Conclusions:
Following our methodology, we successfully developed a web-based tool that allowed for summarizing a large amount of information and making it easily accessible. Based on our experience, this preparatory work can streamline the guideline development process.