I have been doing research in an area (heme/onc related) where, the more that I look at it, the more I think there is enough data to write up a consensus practice guideline on the subject. Actually its an area where consensus practice guideliens HAVE been issued by heme/onc societies in multiple other countries, just not here. So how do groups like the AAP or the ASPHO decide what to issue guidelines on, and how do they get written? If I wanted to try creating such a guideline who would I need to contact? Has anyone taken part in this process before?
I'll discuss AAP processes since I'm a signatory or primary author on several policy statements and practice guidelines for the AAP.
In general, the AAP has committees and sections, which are somewhat different for subspecialty areas. For heme/onc for example
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/collection/section_on_hematology_oncology
there is the section on hematology/oncology.
Generally, the section members or committee members meet regularly (often once or twice a year with email or phone conf calls as well). The committee discusses a range of policy initiatives including policy statements which come in different forms, some of them being practice guidelines and some more technical statements.
Once the section or committee decides that they want to work on a policy statement, it goes through some prescreening at the academy. If it is decided that there is a need for it, then one or two lead authors are identified. They proceed to write the statement. It then must be reviewed by a whole bunch of people and committees before being approved and published. The final step is approval by the executive board of the AAP.
This process is not fast. It is generally about 2 years between statements being approved for development and actual publication. It is nearly impossible to shorten this by much. I know, I tried.
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As far as getting input from outside the section or committee, this can be done, but it is uncommon for the lead authors to be non-section/committee members. That doesn't mean they can't have input though. I would defer to the heme/onc committee to see what they think.
The first step is to identify either the chair or the administrator of the section/committee and write them with you idea/concerns. It isn't mandatory that you be an AAP fellow or resident member to do this, but it helps. A lot.
