Guidelines for guidelines
ACE's G4G highlight quality criteria to be applied across methodologies as minimum standards during clinical guideline development.
Last updated 29 January 2026
Introduction
Clinical guidelines are important knowledge tools that summarise evidence conveniently and present recommendations to support clinical decision-making. Clinical guidelines have a range of purposes, from improving effectiveness and quality of care, to decreasing unnecessary variations in practice, costly and preventable mistakes and adverse events. However, their potential benefits are only as good as the quality of the guidelines themselves. Over the years, guideline development methodologies have evolved, with various approaches available to fit the needs and capacity of different countries or scientific groups. While some variation may be warranted, certain standards should be upheld to maximise the application of rigorous development and the successful implementation of the resulting recommendations.
Guidelines for Guidelines (G4G)
To support local guideline developers who wish to produce evidence-based, relevant, high-quality clinical guidelines for the Singapore healthcare setting, ACE has developed nine minimum standards or “Guidelines for Guidelines (G4G)” – which are in line with existing reputable sources of criteria for guideline quality, such as the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation II (AGREE II) instrument, the GIN McMaster Guideline Development checklist, the IOM Standards for Trustworthy Guidelines.
Click on the relevant resources below for more information on these standards, examples, templates and relevant training modules.
Nine minimum standards for guideline development
Resources
Download the resources to support your guideline development journey.
