Over the past 7 years, the Guidelines Advisory Committee (GAC) has established itself as an international leader in the assessment and review of clinical practice guidelines.
Our Mission
The GAC's mission is to promote better health for the people of Ontario by encouraging physicians and other practitioners to use evidence-based clinical practice guidelines and clinical practices based on best available evidence.
Our Mandate
To succeed in our mission, the GAC has historically engaged in four core activities:
- Evidence Review and Endorsement: Identifying and evaluating evidence-based recommendations for best clinical practices
- Summary Development: Summarizing evidence to highlight its usefulness and relevance to clinical decision-making
- Evidence Dissemination: Improving the availability and accessibility of evidence
- Evidence Promotion and Implementation: Increasing the adoption of and adherence to evidence-based recommendations in clinical decision-making
The GAC strives to ensure its review process is methodologically sound, relevant, and coordinated appropriately. It is recognized as a credible source for guidelines and tools by providers and key organizations/partners responsible for implementing guidelines into practice. The GAC has endorsed guidelines in over 70 topics areas for primary care and has 4500 unique visitors to its website (www.gacguidelines.ca) monthly.
History
The GAC began as an independent partnership of the Ontario Medical Association and the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care (MOHLTC). The GAC also included ex-officio representation from the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES). Since joining CEP in 2008, GAC has expanded its mandate to include roles in advising and assisting organizations in the creation of clinical practice guidelines and supporting the evidence andinformation needs of implementation strategies developed by CEP and its partners. GAC's new role within CEP ensures that the clinical evidence appraised by GAC is integrated into dissemination and implementation efforts.
The GAC Process
The GAC uses a systematic search strategy to identify guidelines on topics appropriate for physicians. Guidelines which meet basic quality criteria -- i.e. they use systematic search criteria and have recommendations directly linked to levels of evidence -- are sent for rating by independent reviewers using the validated, six-domain AGREE instrument. Giving particular consideration to the domains of Rigour of Development and Editorial Independence, guidelines with highest AGREE scores are reviewed by a lead committee member and medical advisory staff, and are brought to the entire committee for discussion. The guideline(s) which are felt to a) best reflect the evidence, and b) have recommendations most appropriate to practice setting are endorsed by committee vote, a decision that may be sent to appropriate practice groups for additional comment. A summary of the evidence within the endorsed guideline(s) is developed based on clinical questions relevant to guideline target users.
