No abstract

The discoveries, new body of evidence, interventions, and new knowledge are inherent to science. Therefore, guidelines and recommendations also need to be under constant surveillance to update and embrace the new evidence, resulting in improved quality and safety. This article covers the process and decision-making process around the guidelines. The article captures the essence of discussion in the knowledge exchange seminar series between national institute for health and care excellence (NICE) and IHOPE, which was organized as a part of the collaborative project between NICE International and IHOPE to develop and implement evidence-based clinical guidelines in India. This paper is the fourth in the series, and further information on the other papers can be found at this link.

Medicine is a dynamic and evolving discipline that calls for rational, scientific, and evidence-based decision-making to enhance patients’ quality of care. The use of guidelines to support decision-making has increasingly become an important part of clinical practice. This paper highlights the rationale and importance of developing and quality assuring guidelines that underpin the NICE process for developing guidelines.

The objective of this article is to describe NICE’s role regarding quality improvement in health and social care in England and to gain an insight into how NICE quality standards and indicators are used in the health and social care system. NICE is the national point of reference for advice on safe, effective, and cost-effective health and social care. NICE achieves this by providing advice aligned to the needs, uses, and demands of the resource constrained system. NICE’s role in quality improvement follows a stepwise progression starting with evidence-based guidance and recommendations through to quality standards and indicators. These are aimed to contribute to improved outcomes in health and social care.

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