Harmonizing guidelines and other clinical practice documents: A joint comprehensive methodology manual by the American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS), European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (EACTS), European Society of Thoracic Surgeons (ESTS), and Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS)
Governing bodies of the AATS, EACTS, ESTS, and STS chose a writing panel based on expertise in the development of clinical practice documents to establish uniform methodology for joint societies’ projects. This document integrates existing independent methodologies into a singular collaborative methodology, further enriched by adopting the basic standards for development proposed by key stakeholders.
Development Methods Used for the Creation of the Present Documents
The governing bodies of the AATS, EACTS, ESTS, and STS chose a writing panel on the basis of their expertise in the development of clinical practice documents to establish a uniform methodology for joint societies’ projects. This document integrates existing independent methodologies into a singular collaborative methodology, further enriched by adopting the basic standards for development proposed by the key stakeholders. The writing panel collaborated to draft all document sections that were reviewed and discussed during several committee meetings. Consensus was achieved in every phase throughout the development process. In the tables detailing relationships with industry, anonymous voting was applied, and the panel set a 75% approval threshold for finalizing decisions.