The implementation of prioritisation exercises in the development of health practice guidelines: A scoping review (Update)

Health practice guidelines are essential for evidence-based care, but their development is resource-intensive. Clear prioritisation is thus required to ensure the effective allocation of limited resources. Current prioritisation processes, however, often lack transparency, standardisation, and explicit documentation. This results in a lack of guidance and quality assessment for prioritisation during guideline development. This scoping review updates a 2019 study to identify and describe prioritisation exercises for guideline topics, questions, and outcomes across various development strategies. Following PRISMA-ScR guidelines, the study will systematically search electronic databases and use a mixed-methods document analysis approach to describe prioritisation exercises used during guideline development. Exercises will also be mapped across different guideline strategies and paper characteristics to explore potential trends. The resulting list of exercises will assist stakeholders in conducting transparent, high-quality prioritisation, thus strengthening health systems and decision-making.