Much of my time as a medical librarian involves searching the literature to find guidelines and systematic reviews to inform evidence based clinical practice. This year the Institute of Medicine has put out a call to professional organizations that produce guidelines and conduct systematic reviews to adhere to a "gold standard" for the processes. The IOM's "Standards for Developing Trustworthy Clinical Practice Guidelines" cover 8 key components including: maintaining transparency, rating practice recommendations based on the strength of the evidence, & using systematic reviews that have been conducted based on IOM's standard. Find the full text of both reports here http://www.iom.edu/Reports.aspx.
