Reporting Interest-Holder Engagement in Practice Guidelines: The RIGHT-MuSE Checklist
BACKGROUND: As part of the development of practice guidelines, developers need to systematically engage relevant interest-holder groups. The Reporting Items for practice Guidelines in HealThcare (RIGHT) checklist for reporting practice guidelines lacks detailed guidance on how to report the engagement process. OBJECTIVE: To develop a standardized checklist for reporting interest-holder engagement in practice guidelines, named the RIGHT-MuSE checklist. DESIGN: The development process followed the methods recommended by the Enhancing the QUAlity and Transparency Of health Research (EQUATOR) Network, as well as lessons learned from the development of the RIGHT statement and its extensions. Key steps included developing the protocol, registering the project, establishing a working group, conducting background work, generating an initial list of items, conducting a consensus survey, holding panel discussions, and creating the final RIGHT-MuSE checklist and an accompanying explanation and elaboration document. SETTING: International collaboration. PARTICIPANTS: 25 panelists from various guideline development interest-holder groups. MEASUREMENTS: Consensus agreement on checklist items. RESULTS: The final RIGHT-MuSE checklist consists of 11 items covering the guidance used, methods of engagement, characteristics of interest-holders, evaluation of engagement, and management of conflicts of interest. The checklist is supplemented with a glossary of key terms and detailed explanations for each item to facilitate its use. LIMITATION: The RIGHT-MuSE checklist has not been evaluated in a broader context or widely applied in real-world guideline development processes. CONCLUSION: Guideline developers can use the RIGHT-MuSE checklist to comprehensively report on interest-holder engagement. PRIMARY FUNDING SOURCE: The Vincent and Lily Woo Foundation.
Authors
- Janne Estill (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9544-1447)
- Thomas Agoritsas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6182-9969)
- Imad Bou Akl (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8984-6683)
- Jordi Pardo Pardo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3985-5335)
- Joanne Khabsa (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4336-3501)
- Marisha E. Palm (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9760-7196)
- Peter Tugwell (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5062-0556)
- Stephanie Chang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-6809-7552)
- Asma Ben Brahem
- Vivian Welch (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5238-7097)
- Iván D. Flórez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0751-8932)
- Michael McCaul (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2730-6478)
- Elie A. Akl (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3444-8618)
- Mouna Jameleddine (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9618-5318)
- Yaolong Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9841-5233)
- Celeste Naude (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9114-1452)
- Ana Marušić (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6272-0917)
- David Tovey (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8889-9246)
- Xuan Yu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0440-3574)
- Yasser Sami Amer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4097-2317)
- Zhaoxiang Bian (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6206-1958)
- Lubna A. Al‐Ansary (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7127-914X)
- Rebekah Thomas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7416-4401)
- Jennifer Petkovic (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5824-584X)
- Lyubov Lytvyn (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4425-2982)
- Liliya E. Ziganshina (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1999-0705)
- Lili Zeidan
- Lorenzo Moja
- Thomas Concannon
- Michael Saginur
Institutions
- University of Geneva (CH)
- Tufts University (US)
- Tufts Medical Center (US)
- Western Cape Department of Health (ZA)
- East Sussex County Council (GB)
- Hong Kong Baptist University (HK)
- University of Ottawa (CA)
- Chinese University of Hong Kong (HK)
- Kazan State Medical University (RU)
- Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College (CN)
- American Pharmacists Association (US)
- King Saud Medical City (SA)
- Montfort Hospital (CA)
- King Saud University (SA)
- American College of Physicians (US)
- Instituto de Cancerología Las Américas (CO)
- American University of Beirut Medical Center (LB)
- World Health Organization (CH)
- Center for Assessment (US)
- Bruyère (CA)
- Lanzhou University (CN)
- University of Split (HR)
- McMaster University (CA)
- American University of Beirut (LB)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Annals of Internal Medicine
- Published
- 2026-06-29
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.7326/annals-25-05329
- Primary Topic
- Healthcare Quality and Management
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00