Abstract
Objectives
To suggest approaches for guideline developers on how to assess a methodologist's
expertise with Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE)
methods and tasks and to provide a set of minimum skills and experience required to
perform specific tasks related to guideline development using GRADE.
Study Design and Setting
We used an iterative and consensus-based process involving individuals with in-depth
experience with GRADE. We considered four main tasks: (1) development of key questions;
(2) assessment of the certainty of effect estimates; (3) development of recommendations;
and (4) teaching GRADE.
Results
There are three basic approaches to determine a methodologist's skill set. First,
self-report of knowledge, skills, and experience with a standardized “GRADE curriculum
vitae (CV)” focused on each of the GRADE-related tasks; second, demonstration of skills
using worked examples; third, a formal evaluation using a written or oral test. We
suggest that the GRADE CV is likely to be useful and feasible to implement. We also
suggest minimum training including attendance at one or more full-day workshops and
familiarity with the main GRADE publications and the GRADE handbook.
Conclusions
The selection of a GRADE methodologist must be a thoughtful, reasoned decision, informed
by the criteria suggested in this article and tailored to the specific project. Our
suggested approaches need further pilot testing and validation.
Keywords
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References
- Rating quality of evidence and strength of recommendations GRADE: an emerging consensus on rating quality of evidence and strength of recommendations.BMJ. 2008; 336: 924-926
- The GRADE approach is reproducible in assessing the quality of evidence of quantitative evidence syntheses.J Clin Epidemiol. 2013; 66: 736-742
- The agreement for grading the quality of evidence using GRADE system.(20th Cochrane Colloquium) The Cochrane Collaboration, Auckland, New Zealand2012
- GRADE guidelines system is reproducible when instructions are clearly operationalized even among the guidelines panel members with limited experience with GRADE.J Clin Epidemiol. 2016; 75: 115-118
- Higgins J.P.T. Green S. Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions Version 5.1.0 [updated March 2011]. The Cochrane Collaboration, Chichester, England2011 (Available at) (Accessed July 31, 2016)
Article info
Publication history
Published online: July 13, 2016
Accepted:
July 2,
2016
Footnotes
Funding: None.
Conflicts of interest: All authors are active members of the GRADE Working Group and have performed paid and unpaid work and consultations related to the application of GRADE to systematic reviews and guideline development for a variety of governmental and nongovernmental entities. All authors have previously published articles related to GRADE in the peer-reviewed literature.
Identification
Copyright
© 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
