Guideline development and maintenance – international collaboration
The Knowledge Institute of the Dutch Association of Medical Specialists supports the development of clinical practice guidelines for medical specialist care in the Netherlands. On this page, we inform you about our work and our ambition for more international collaboration in developing clinical guidelines. International collaboration can enhance the quality of guidelines, making optimal use of the available scientific knowledge, and it can make the process of guideline development more efficient.
Who we are
The Knowledge Institute of the Dutch Association of Medical Specialists (Knowledge Institute) supports the development and update of clinical practice guidelines for medical specialist care in the Netherlands. This work is financed by the Dutch Medical Specialists Quality Fund (abbreviation in Dutch SKMS). Currently, the Dutch Guidelines Database (‘Richtlijnendatabase’) contains more than 700 guidelines including over 11,000 clinical questions with recommendations. The evidence summaries in recent updates on the Dutch Guidelines Database are written in English. The website www.richtlijnendatabase.nl can be searched and most of the Dutch text can be read in English by using the ‘Translate’ function of your web browser. Most web browsers offer a built-in translation feature, which you can usually find by right-clicking on a webpage and selecting 'Translate' or by looking for a translation option in the browser’s menu or settings. Please note that any translations generated by external translation services may contain inaccuracies or misinterpretations. The Richtlijnendatabase cannot be held liable for errors or omissions stemming from these external translations. In the event of discrepancies, the original Dutch version shall prevail as the official and legally valid text.
How we work
All our guidelines are intended to comply with the AGREE II criteria. Important aspects are a comprehensive representation of stakeholders, and addressing potential conflicts of interest. We aim for inclusion of all relevant stakeholders, in particular patient representatives, in the guideline panels and in the process of defining clinical questions that need to be addressed or updated. We use the Dutch Code for the prevention of improper influence due to conflicts of interest.
For performing the evidence summaries and formulating recommendations we use the GRADE methodology. Expert information specialists write the search strategies, and selection of articles is performed by two panel members independently using the program Rayyan. We are currently investigating the use of AI to expedite this process. For the Summary of Findings (SoF) table we use MAGICapp.
Invitation to collaborate
To improve efficiency and increase the number of guidelines that are up-to-date, we welcome international collaboration. One of the possible options is to exchange evidence summaries between countries, which can be used as input for the Evidence to Decision framework in the separate countries. We are open to explore all possible ways of collaboration. If you are interested, please contact us for more information.
If you are considering to adapt or adopt our guidelines, please consult our information regarding ownership.