Guidelines quiz

What do you know about evidence-based guidelines?

Guidelines are freely available on the world wide web?

Examples of these include Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN): RCP Stroke Guidelines(2016), SIGN 118 Stroke rehabilitation, SIGN 119 Dysphagia in stroke and National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.

A grade B recommendation is more important than a grade C

The grade of recommendation relates to the strength of the evidence on which the recommendation is based. It does not reflect the clinical importance of the recommendation. (See Additional Information box at bottom of page for more information on this). e.g. Screening for swallowing problems is very important but not supported by high quality research.

Every patient admitted must be treated in accordance with the guidelines

Clinical judgement needs to be used to decide whether an individual patient is treated according to a specific guideline statement.

Guidelines always provide the most up-to-date information about how to treat patients

Guidelines are often reviewed only every few years and therefore may become out of date. Clinical practice needs to take account of the most recent clinical evidence.

High quality meta-analyses, systematic reviews of RCTs, or RCTs with a very low risk of bias, represent examples of level 3 evidence

They represent the highest level i.e. 1++. (See Additional Information box at bottom of page for more information on this).