Development of high-quality clinical guidelines for children and young people: a stepwise approach

High quality clinical guidelines play a fundamental role in improving healthcare and reducing unwarranted variations in practice. They are based on best available evidence, are developed with the appropriate ‘stakeholder’ engagement, and are subjected to external peer review. Development of clinical guidelines for children and young people (CYP) may be particularly challenging due to a lack of available evidence in an age group that is dominated by rare disease. Arguably, a lack of quality evidence increases the need for clinical guidelines. This review introduces key concepts in high quality clinical guideline development.