The definition of a term is especially important when writing a research paper. Readers are not expected to understand some of the terms included in a search, so authors are strongly advised to provide this information. The next four sections examine the context, working assumptions, principles, and sources that guided the committee in developing its list of attributes, followed by a discussion of the attributes themselves. However, this chapter is not intended to be an exhaustive description of guideline development or approval of a particular method.1 The discussion in this chapter focuses on the attributes of the guidelines and not on the attributes of medical examination criteria, quality standards and performance measures. The recent IOM report on quality assurance in the health insurance programme (1990d) discusses some characteristics that should have good criteria for medical examination, such as specificity and sensitivity. The Act also directs the Minister of Health to consider the extent to which the guidelines can be expected to “(i) improve methods of prevention, diagnosis, treatment and clinical management for the benefit of a significant number of people; (ii) reduce clinically significant differences between physicians in the specific services and procedures used for diagnosis and treatment; and (iii) reduce clinically significant differences in outcomes of health care services and procedures. In defining the eight recommended characteristics of the guidelines, the Committee did not take these factors into account. Prioritization is a crucial but distinct task undertaken by IOM in other studies (IOM, 1990a,b,c,e). While these examples are intended to illustrate how the three parties work together, they are not the most realistic cases. Most readers will already be familiar with the concepts of water, comics, and astronomy. That`s why it`s important to know when and why you should include definitions in your writing.
One section that is often needed in a thesis is “definitions of terms.” This will give your readers an understanding of the concepts or factors discussed during your study, as well as contextual information about how you will use those concepts in your study. “Term definitions” ensure that your readers understand the components of your study as you present them, as your readers often have their own understanding of the terms or don`t know them at all. In this section, you will provide a list of terms used throughout the thesis and the definitions of each. Sounds simple enough, right? But how do you know which terms to define and which to omit? In general, the number of attributes should be meaningful and achievable. An appropriate balance must be struck between sufficient attributes to allow for an adequate evaluation of the guidelines, but not to the extent that the evaluation becomes impractical, confusing or excessive in the face of limited resources. It is likely that a guidance assessment tool will need to weigh the eight attributes in some way and indicate which of them are most relevant to determining whether a particular set of guidance is valid. Due to time and resource constraints, the Committee did not systematically rank the various attributes according to their relative importance, although the discussion that follows distinguishes some of the most important. Table 3-1 lists the eight attributes identified by the Committee for the evaluation of the guidelines. One issue that is highlighted here and that links these attributes of the guidelines is credibility – credibility with practitioners, patients, payers and policy makers. This topic includes the scientific basis of the guidelines, the qualification of those involved in the development process, and the relevance of the guidelines to the practice in which practitioners and patients make decisions. Which purchase documents only allow time-independent conditions Defined by federal regulations to include information about behavior that occurs in a context where a person can reasonably expect no sightings or recordings to take place. This includes information provided by an individual for a specific purpose that they can reasonably expect will not be published (e.g., a medical record).
Personal information must be individually identifiable (i.e. the identity of the subject is or can be easily established by the investigator or linked to the information) so that the collection of the information constitutes research involving human beings. If health outcomes are projected in terms of additional life expectancy or similar measures, the unit cost of each identified parameter should be projected. Again, ranges may be more appropriate than point estimates. If the guidelines indicate acceptable alternative therapies, the total cost of the main alternatives and their cost per unit of each expected benefit should be described. Ideally, cost estimates should include two components, one related to projected health care costs and the other related to administrative costs. The estimated health care costs to follow the guidelines should reflect (1) the estimated total number of services added, replaced or removed when a policy is followed, and (2) the justified fees (or production costs) for these services. In the case of screening services, for example, the anticipated costs of providing services and resolving identified problems must be considered. Depending on the information available and the assumptions used, estimates are often made in the form of ranges rather than point estimates. Any conflicts or inconsistencies between the relevant guidelines and those developed by others should be explained. The issue of disagreements or inconsistencies between practice guidelines is important to patients, practitioners, managers, payers and policy makers.
As discussed in Chapter 5 of this report, the mere identification of inconsistencies in the guidelines says nothing about the legitimacy of such differences. Careful documentation of evidence and reasoning can help potential users of the guidelines assess whether inconsistencies are due to differences in the interpretation of scientific evidence, differences in the care taken in developing the guidelines, or other factors. A second, and related, issue is the importance of accountability, the key element of which is disclosure.