Standard Operating Procedures Overview

Development of an AUA Guideline normally occurs over a 2 ½-year period. It follows the nine stages described below. Click here for more information.

1. Topic nomination – Topics for guidelines are nominated by members of the Practice Guidelines Committee or online by AUA members.
2. Panel identification – Panel members are selected based on lack of Conflicts of Interest (COI), team-working ability, methodological experience, and expertise in the topic area.
3. Research question definition – The Guideline panel sets the parameters for the study by setting the scope and inclusion/exclusion criteria, and by specifying the research questions to be investigated.
4. Literature review – A methodologist selects articles with pertinent data to answer the research questions from the results of the literature search conducted by a medical librarian.
5. Data extraction, analysis and synthesis – Relevant data is extracted and then is analyzed, meta-analyzed when appropriate, and synthesized by the methodologist. The findings are presented to the panel in an evidence report.
6. Evidence report review and guideline statement development – The panel reviews the evidence report noting the strength of the evidence (A, B, or C) for each research question and structures guideline statements (Standard, Recommendation, or Option) to reflect the findings.
7. Guideline writing – The panel creates a draft Guideline by writing the text that supports the guideline statements; the methodologist describes the approaches used in the study.
8. Peer review – The panel addresses the comments received from a review of the draft Guideline undertaken by a minimum of 50 non-panel experts, often representing various disciplines.
9. Approval and publication – The Practice Guidelines Committee, then the AUA Board of Directors approves the final Guideline and it is officially published on the website of the AUA.

After publication, a summary of the Guideline is published in the Journal of Urology and information about it is disseminated to the urologic community and the general public through webinars, pocket guides, patient guides, performance measures, educational courses.