Guideline for [Clinical Guidelines Constitution/Amendment] in China.

Quality problem or issue: Chinese medical institutions need clinical guidelines to improve healthcare quality. Unfamiliarity with clinical methodology and procedures leads to poor quality.

Initial assessment: This study examined 327 clinical guidelines made in China during the period of 2006-10 and found these clinical guidelines have many problems in terms of guideline making procedures-compliant process, conflicts of interest disclosure.

Choice of solution: Chinese Medical Association organized a working group in 2014 to make a national [Guideline for Clinical Guidelines Constitution/Amendment] and invited multidiscipline experts to prove its possibility.

Implementation: Experts investigated and reviewed numerous domestic and foreign published literature within the past 2 years, concluded that a clinical guideline should have following seven components: I. Objective; II. General Principle; III. Procedure and Methodology; IV. Confirmation, Publication and Dissemination; V. Update and Amendment; VI. Implementation and Outcome Validation; VII. Reference.

Evaluation: The [Guideline for Clinical Guidelines Constitution/Amendment] will improve the quality of Chinese clinical guidelines and regulate applications, as well as outcome evaluations of clinical guidelines in China.

Lessons learned: Standardized methodology and procedures are important for constituting high-quality clinical guidelines.