Manual for the clinical experts consensus of Chinese patent medicine / 中国中药杂志

Chinese patent medicine is widely used in clinical practice, but improper use will not only weaken the efficacy of drugs, but even cause adverse consequences. Evidence-based medicine provides guidance for clinical practice based on the best available evidence, experience of experts and needs of patients. However, considering the situation of "insufficient evidence" or "very low quality" in Chinese medicine research, experts consensus is the main basis for clinical decision-making, but expert opinions on which the consensus depends are susceptible to various subjective biases. Therefore, a reliable and scientific consensus-making process is needed to maximally avoid bias on consensus. Unlike the clinical practice guidelines, there is no unified formulating process for consensus in the world today. This article learns from a set of formulating processes from some international consensus formulating institutions/associations, combined with the characteristics and current situation of traditional Chinese medicine, and draws up a set of standard process that is suitable for the clinical experts consensus on Chinese patent medicine, with the expect of providing evidence and reference for consensus makers, and then bringing evidence-based assistance for the clinical standardized application of Chinese patent medicines.

Discussion on issues related to clinical experts consensus of Chinese patent medicine / 中国中药杂志

The promulgation of standardized documents on traditional Chinese medicine has promoted the formulation of industrial standards of traditional Chinese medicine, including clinical practice guidelines and clinical expert consensus. In order to adapt to the current research situation of "insufficient evidence" or "very low quality" when developing clinical practice guideline in the field of traditional Chinese medicine, the author has made a retrospective study on the development of guidelines and consensus, and found that the consensus is more suitable for the current research status of Chinese patent medicine, as the stage of lack of high-quality clinical evidence will remain for a long time. However, unlike clinical practice guidelines, domestic scholars and consensus makers have insufficient understanding of the clinical experts consensus. This article will introduce the origin and status of the clinical experts consensus, the differences between clinical experts consensus and the clinical practice guidelines, and the basic principles that should be followed in the formulation of the clinical experts consensus of Chinese patent medicine, expecting to provide theory basis and reference for the normative formulation of clinical experts consensus.

Reporting criteria for clinical experts consensus of Chinese medicine / 中国中药杂志

Due to its own characteristics and research status, traditional Chinese medicine research often faces the reality of "insufficient evidence" or "very low quality" when making clinical practice guidelines. Therefore, in many cases, clinical decision-making of traditional Chinese medicine should rely mainly on expert consensus to achieve. A clear and detailed list of expert consensus report specifications will provide a good reporting tool for Chinese clinical expert consensus makers, which is very important for promoting the quality of consensus production and the promotion and application of consensus results. The author consulted the internationally published authoritative expert consensus, summarized the main points of the reports, combined with the formulation process of the clinical experts consensus of Chinese medicine, and the demonstration of clinical experts and methodologists, and then formulated the list of items for clinical expert consensus reports adapt to the field of Chinese medicine. This article introduces the entire list of items and elaborates on the key parts. It is expected to provide reference for the standardization of future clinical expert consensus reports.