The Guidelines International Network (GIN) is a community established to strengthen and support collaboration, discussion, and mutual improvement in the production and implementation of guidelines. GIN organises a conference every year, in different parts of the world, to facilitate exchange and networking among its members.
Since 2018, the EAN has been an organisational member, actively participating in discussions, activities and courses to enrich its own knowledge in guideline development. This year, we participated in the conference, which took place in Glasgow, UK, on 19-22 September.
The EAN Guideline Production Group (GPG) was represented by Dr Katina Aleksovska, guideline methodologist, and Abigail Magno, guideline coordinator.
The overarching theme of the conference this year was ‘Maintaining quality while pursuing efficiency’.
The advancement of clinical practice towards digitalisation in the recent years has raised questions as to whether certain technology could also aid in the different stages of guideline production and usage to keep up with the fast and ever-changing landscape of healthcare. There were several interesting discussions at the conference surrounding the tools, how to supplement traditional approaches, and what the advantages and pitfalls are.
Another theme of interest was guideline implementation and dissemination, which the GPG is currently tackling in a long-term project to ascertain that EAN guidelines are fulfilling their intended purpose.
Other discussions also covered topics that are common challenges within the community, such as collaboration, stakeholder involvement, improvement of consensus methods, and living guidelines. Prioritisation, which has recently been employed by the EAN in its guidelines process, was also covered to a large extent, as this is considered beneficial to sustainability.
Dr Aleksovksa had the opportunity to present the EAN’s newly established Guideline Prioritisation Process at the conference, sharing how it was developed and the results of the launch. The presentation was received with much interest by the audience. The participation of the GPG in the conference was a perfect opportunity for its members to share ideas and experiences with colleagues and receive valuable input that will be implemented in future EAN guidelines. By expanding our knowledge about international standards and exchanging with the community, we ensure that the EAN continues to learn and improve its own practices.
