We published rapid advice guidelines and updated guidelines for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) management on February 6, 2020, and September 4, 2020, respectively. These two guidelines vary widely in their developmental background, type of evidence, grade of recommendation and so on. We shared our experience for the development of these two guidelines to help clinical practitioners better understand and implement guidelines and to help guideline developers facilitate communication and discussion for guideline development during the pandemic.
2. Some thoughts on conducting and implementing clinical practice guidelines in a pandemic
A pandemic is a disease that spreads worldwide. When disease is new such as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), evidentiary basis, by definition, to prevent, diagnose,and treat the disease is limited. Nevertheless, clinical practice guidelines are urgently required to assist policy and health-care workers to make informed decisions. But, acting in the high-quality evidentiary vacuum, that is, basing guidelines on poor-quality research can be counterproductive and potentially harmful. Thus, guideline developers face a number of challenges during a pandemic like COVID-19 that we wish to address in this Ideas and Opinion paper.
