Using evidence synthesis and clinical practice guidelines in everyday decision-making process: is it real or a dream?

Abstract

Every decision of a healthcare professional should be according to an evidence-based healthcare (EBHC) approach based on the best available up-to-date evidence, expert experiences and patient’s preferences. This EBHC principle seems to be very simple; however, the reality and everyday practice differs completely, not only among different countries, but there is a high heterogeneity in its daily use among regions and even healthcare facilities within one country as well. To discuss the critical question ‘producing and using the best available evidence and guidelines’ on an international level, we organized in December 2018 the ‘European JBI symposium of Evidence-Based Healthcare with focus on the Clinical Practice Guidelines, Decision making process and Evidence synthesis in the Czech Republic’ (JBC European Symposium). The symposium consisted of eight sessions dealing with methodology, transfer and using evidence synthesis and clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) during decision-making process. A total of 18 keynote speakers from Canada, Iran and the most of European countries presented over the 2 days of the symposium, which was formally opened by the President of the symposium Adj. Assoc. Prof. Miloslav Klugar, PhD, Director of The Czech Republic (Middle European), Centre for Evidence-Based Healthcare: The Joanna Briggs Institute Centre of Excellence and Chair of European Joanna Briggs Collaboration. Themain topic of the symposiumwas CPGs. Themain keynote speaker at the JBC European Symposium was Prof. Holger Schünemann, who presented a completely new approach for using nonresearch ‘expert evidence’ and argued that to help ensure that expert evidence is used appropriately to inform recommendations within guidelines, it must be collected and appraised systematically and transparently. The President of the symposium presented the first outcomes of the ‘Czech National project for Clinical Practice guidelines’, which is led by the Czech Health Research Council in cooperation with the Ministry of Health of Czech Republic and the Institute of Health Information and Statistics of the Czech Republic. Prof. Cooper from Scotland and Dr Evans from the United