Tari Turner1 for the National COVID-19 Clinical Evidence Taskforce.
1Cochrane Australia, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Level 4, 553 St Kilda Road, Melbourne, VIC 3004, tari.turner@monash.edu
Evidence-based clinical practice guidelines are key tools for supporting uptake of health research into policy and practice. Unfortunately, they can take years to produce, and rapidly become outdated as more research is published. As a result, health decision-makers don’t always have access to reliable, up-to-date summaries of research when they need them.
Developed in Australia, ‘living’ evidence synthesis methods enable systematic reviews and evidence-based guidelines to be kept continually up-to-date, with frequent searches for new evidence, and ongoing updating to reflect changes in the research or the context in which decisions are being made; providing reliable up-to-date information whenever it is needed.
In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic created widespread and extreme clinical uncertainty. An initial absence of evidence, was soon replaced by a deluge of questionable research; clinicians desperately needed reliable, frequently updated guidance. In Australia, from April 2020 the National COVID-19 Clinical Evidence Taskforce provided living, NHMRC-approved evidence-based guidance for care of people with COVID-19. Taskforce guidance has been updated more than 100 times; and includes 200 recommendations and 22 clinical flowcharts.
This experience has demonstrated the feasibility and value of living guideline methods in Australia and internationally, where groups like WHO and NICE are applying it in COVID and beyond. In Australia, the Taskforce and the Australian Living Evidence Consortium are extending these approaches to apply living guideline methods to areas like MPX, stroke, diabetes, kidney disease and musculoskeletal conditions. Always up-to-date evidence-based guidelines are finally within reach!