Clinical Guidelines Search & Retrieval Guideline Hierarchy Not all guidelines carry equal weight. Evaluate sources in this order: 1. NICE and WHO — Evidence-graded, regularly updated, rigorous systematic review process. NICE guidelines include explicit recommendation strength (e.g., "offer" vs "consider"). 2. Society guidelines (AHA, ADA, NCCN, SIGN) — Expert-consensus panels within a specialty. May lag behind the latest evidence by 1-3 years. Strong within their domain but narrower scope. 3. Aggregator databases (TRIP, OpenAlex) — Index guidelines from multiple societies. Good for breadth an…