Guideline

A guideline is a statement that helps practitioners make decisions about appropriate care for specific clinical situations. It is typically issued by professional societies, government agencies, or international bodies. Guidelines are not firm rules; they are recommendations grounded in evidence and expert consensus, intended to reduce variation in practice while allowing clinician judgment.

Guidelines differ from standards, laws, and regulations; they are advisory rather than mandatory, though some guidelines may be incorporated into policy or required by funding bodies.

In medicine and public health, guideline development follows systematic processes: formulating clinical questions, conducting systematic reviews of evidence, assessing benefits and harms, rating the strength of recommendations, and ensuring transparency about conflicts of interest. Evidence grading systems such as GRADE are commonly used.

Output often includes actionable recommendations with levels of strength, along with contextual notes about applicability, patient values, and resource considerations.

Implementation involves dissemination, integration into electronic health records or decision support tools, and ongoing audit of adherence and outcomes.

Guidelines are updated to reflect new evidence and may be withdrawn or revised when evidence changes; outdated guidelines can harm if followed.

Limitations include potential mismatch with individual patient circumstances, the risk of guideline overreach, conflicts of interest, and the challenge of keeping guidelines up to date across diverse settings.

Notable examples include clinical practice guidelines for hypertension, asthma, and cancer screening; public health guidelines on vaccination and nutrition; and reporting guidelines such as CONSORT and PRISMA.