Thursday, June 30, 2016

Proposed new evidence-based medicine pyramid


Systematic reviews and meta-analyses have been placed at the top of the evidence pyramid for several good reasons. They provide more trustworthy answers and more precise estimates with narrower confidence intervals that are were not selected based on expert opinion, but rather based on a systematic procedure. However, credible systematic review can summarize biased evidence and poorly done systematic reviews can summarize well done trials. This challenges the placement on top. In addition, GRADE tells us that our certainty in evidence should be driven by many factors other than study design. Therefore, we propose 2 modifications to the pyramid to resolve these 2 challenges.

Figure 1.

Legend: The proposed new evidence-based medicine pyramid. (A) The traditional pyramid. (B) Revising the pyramid: (1) lines separating the study designs become wavy (Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation), (2) systematic reviews are ‘chopped off’ the pyramid. (C) The revised pyramid: systematic reviews are a lens through which evidence is viewed (and applied).

Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Scholarship Announcement for Next Guideline Development Workshop

Scholarship Opportunity Available for the Guideline Development Workshop

The U.S. GRADE Network in collaboration with Evidence Foundation is pleased to offer a scholarship program primarily for participants from North America for attendance of the Guideline Development Workshop in Orlando, FL. Recipients will be awarded a waived registration fee funded by the Evidence Foundation. The U.S. GRADE Network is now accepting applications (deadline: 8/31/2016).
Application: 500 words (or less) describing an innovation in guideline development, implementation, or teaching with the goal of reducing bias in health care recommendations. The innovation could be a future idea or proposal, or one that has already been implemented. The selected applicants will be given the opportunity to provide a 5-10 minute oral presentation to inform audience about their idea or project.
Candidates: New to GRADE without prior GRADE workshop attendance. Early involvement in guideline development (not based on age or experience). Access to a GRADE mentor following the workshop is a plus. The U.S. GRADE Network may be able to help identify a GRADE mentor.


Travel and lodging: Applicant’s institution pays for travel and lodging.


Application deadline: Please send application with a letter of support from your institution by August 31st, 2016 to US@gradeworkinggroup.org

Sunday, May 15, 2016

Announcing our fall Guideline Development Workshop in Orlando Nov 2-4, 2016

As our workshop last month in Kansas City, Missouri, sold out 4 weeks before the event, we have now opened registration to the fall workshop early to facilitate better planning! Please visit our conference website for details.

New this year we is a half day pre-workshop activity to learn more about the role of Systematic Reviews: increase your comfort level with Systematic Reviews and even learn the basics of RevMan, the Cochrane Collaboration's software for meta-analysis. This pre-workshop is specifically designed to dovetail with the GRADE guidelines workshop and we have introduced this option based on popular demand.


Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Annoucement: Spring 2016 - Guideline Development Workshop

Calling all interested in learning about guideline development using the GRADE approach...
Our next Guideline Development Workshop featuring the GRADE Approach will be held April 20-22, 2016 in Kansas City, Missouri! Details about the workshop, including the schedule, tutors, and a link to register can be found at GRADEconf.org. Kansas City, Missouri (not to be confused with their neighbor Kansas City, Kansas), is known for having 200 fountains in the metropolitan area, only second to the number of fountains in Rome. In addition to beautiful architecture, Kansas City is now home to the 2015 World Series Champions! Go Royals! We look forward to seeing you in the great city of KC in April!

Saturday, January 23, 2016

Announcing the U.S. GRADE Network!

The GRADE Working Group was established in 2000 "as an informal collaboration of people with an interest in addressing the shortcomings of present grading systems in health care. The working group has developed a common, sensible and transparent approach to grading quality of evidence and strength of recommendations."
Fifteen years and hundreds of publications later, the GRADE approach for evidence assessment and recommendation development has been adopted by over 90 international organizations. In order to facilitate the adoption and tailor development of guideline methods to audiences in the U.S., we established the U.S. GRADE Network in 2014.

The U.S. GRADE Network aims to provide regular workshops on guideline development using the GRADE approach, as well as collaborate with U.S.-based individuals and organizations interested in exploring research priorities within the healthcare system. We will also work to connect individuals and professional societies interested in developing guidelines with trained methodologists to support and guide the process.

We look forward to collaborating with you!




Friday, January 22, 2016

A year in review

A few highlights for the U.S. GRADE Network in 2015:

We hosted our second Guideline Development Workshop in partnership with U.S. Cochrane West (a branch of the U.S. Cochrane Center) in Portland, Oregon. The turnout was so large, it was hard to capture everyone in one photo! 
We hosted our third Guideline Development Workshop in Orlando, FL! Fun fact: The very first USGN Guideline Development Workshop was also held in Orlando in the fall of 2014. We had a great year and look forward to more activities in 2016!