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. 2017 Mar 10;7(3):e013809.
doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2016-013809.

Quality of clinical practice guidelines in delirium: a systematic appraisal

Shirley H Bush  1   2 , Katie L Marchington  3 , Meera Agar  4 , Daniel H J Davis  5 , Lindsey Sikora  6 , Tammy W Y Tsang  2
Affiliations

Quality of clinical practice guidelines in delirium: a systematic appraisal

Shirley H Bush et al. BMJ Open. .

Abstract

Objective: To determine the accessibility and currency of delirium guidelines, guideline summary papers and evaluation studies, and critically appraise guideline quality.

Design: Systematic literature search for formal guidelines (in English or French) with focus on delirium assessment and/or management in adults (≥18 years), guideline summary papers and evaluation studies.Full appraisal of delirium guidelines published between 2008 and 2013 and obtaining a 'Rigour of Development' domain screening score cut-off of >40% using the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation (AGREE II) instrument.

Data sources: Multiple bibliographic databases, guideline organisation databases, complemented by a grey literature search.

Results: 3327 database citations and 83 grey literature links were identified. A total of 118 retrieved delirium guidelines and related documents underwent full-text screening. A final 21 delirium guidelines (with 10 being >5 years old), 12 guideline summary papers and 3 evaluation studies were included. For 11 delirium guidelines published between 2008 and 2013, the screening AGREE II 'Rigour' scores ranged from 3% to 91%, with seven meeting the cut-off score of >40%. Overall, the highest rating AGREE II domains were 'Scope and Purpose' (mean 80.1%, range 64-100%) and 'Clarity and Presentation' (mean 76.7%, range 38-97%). The lowest rating domains were 'Applicability' (mean 48.7%, range 8-81%) and 'Editorial Independence' (mean 53%, range 2-90%). The three highest rating guidelines in the 'Applicability' domain incorporated monitoring criteria or audit and costing templates, and/or implementation strategies.

Conclusions: Delirium guidelines are best sourced by a systematic grey literature search. Delirium guideline quality varied across all six AGREE II domains, demonstrating the importance of using a formal appraisal tool prior to guideline adaptation and implementation into clinical settings. Adding more knowledge translation resources to guidelines may improve their practical application and effective monitoring. More delirium guideline evaluation studies are needed to determine their effect on clinical practice.

Keywords: Appraisal of Guideline Research and Evaluation (AGREE II) instrument; Clinical practice guidelines; delirium; quality.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure at www.icmje.org/coi_disclosure.pdf and declare that SB has received a research grant from the Bruyère Academic Medical Organization, and a research award from the Department of Medicine, University of Ottawa; SB was an external reviewer for four sections of the Canadian Coalition for Seniors’ Mental Health (CCSMH) guideline for older adults at the end of life.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow diagram of delirium guideline selection procedure.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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