Clinical Guidance Document Definitions
Clinical Consensus Statements (CCSs) are statements based on expert opinion and the best available evidence for which consensus is sought using an explicit methodology to identify areas of agreement and disagreement. In contrast to CPGs, which are based on high-level evidence, CCSs are more applicable to situations where evidence is limited or lacking but there are still opportunities to improve quality of care.
Clinical Practice Statements (CPS) are quality-driven, evidence-based guidelines intended to optimize patient care, which are supported by high-level evidence documents. These documents summarize current information on techniques and clinical management issues for the practice of urogynecology. They should place quality improvement at the forefront, using current best evidence to prioritize recommendations.
Position Statements are documents on scientific or medical issues relating to urogynecology. These statements provide AUGS’ official position on health policy topics and should include a detailed description and supported by evidence.
Practice Advisories are brief, urgent reports that are intended to provide rapid updates and guidance to assist the membership in decision-making areas of clinical care and patient safety. Practice Advisories are written only by the Publications Committee and approved by the Board of Directors.
Systematic Reviews attempt to identify, appraise, and synthesize all relevant studies on a particular topic. The methodological quality of the studies included should be assessed on the basis of explicit criteria, such as whether they are randomized trials, the presence of a pre-test or a control group. Researchers conducting Systematic Reviews use explicit, systematic methods that are selected with a view aimed at minimizing bias, to produce more reliable findings to inform decision making.
Terminology Reports address the approved standards for reporting data/information to ensure consistency in terminology. These reports should highlight the issues created by poor terminology, propose a clearer set of definitions related to set end points; and provide greater clarity in reporting, interpretation, application, and implications for researchers and practitioners.
White papers are brief, informative authored reports or guides that advocate, promote, or highlight features of a solution or product to educate the membership.
Commentaries are brief, opinion-based pieces of writing, focusing on an important issue in clinical medicine, public health, health policy, or medical research.A Commentary aims to provide additional context, discuss implications, offer alternative perspectives, or criticize and suggest improvements regarding a recently published article or topic.
Endorsed Documents: AUGS endorsement of a peer organization’s clinical guidance document denotes that AUGS fully supports the clinical guidance in the document. Clinical guidance documents endorsed by AUGS are considered official AUGS clinical guidance.
Supported Documents: AUGS support denotes that AUGS considers the clinical guidance document to be of educational value to its members, although AUGS may not agree with every recommendation or statement in the document.
