TABLE 3.

Sources or Reference Documents Used in the Adaptation and/or Development of New Content and Content-Validation Committee

Source(s)RationaleCDSS
IMCI guidelines
  • WHO generic and/or national IMCI guidelines to reflect country specific adaptations.

  • May involve updates based on national/international guidelines (e.g., national pneumonia guidelines may have been updated more recently than IMCI).

All
Other national or international guidelines (e.g., standard treatment guidelines, formularies, disease-specific guidelines for malaria, TB, HIV, etc.)
  • To extend scope (relative to IMCI) by incorporating information from various guidelines relevant to the diagnosis and management of children in primary care (that health workers are expected to implement at a country level) or to reflect most up-to-date relevant guidance not yet incorporated into national guidelines due to long guideline update cycles (e.g., WHO young infant guidelines).

All
Existing or newly conducted evidence syntheses (systematic reviews/meta-analyses)
  • To implement relevant guidance not yet incorporated into national or international guidelines (due to long guideline update cycles), particularly if extending scope.

ALMANACH, MSFeCARE-Ped, ePOCT+
Epidemiological data (surveillance/research)
  • To target focus for additional scope/content (on conditions with significant morbidity or mortality).

  • To incorporate flexibility within the algorithm (e.g., diagnostic and treatment advice differing based on location of facilities in high/low prevalence areas for diseases such as malaria).

MSFeCARE-Ped, ePOCT+,

IeDA

Existing clinical algorithm
  • To use work already conducted on translating narrative guidance into decision logic, including updates that may have been made over time based on implementation experience or novel diagnostic/treatment approaches that may have been evaluated elsewhere.

All
Expert opinion (national or international panel)
  • To advise which source documents (guidelines or other evidence) should be used as a basis for the algorithm.

  • To advise/review/validate interpretation of narrative guidelines/evidence translation to human-readable algorithm.

All
  • Abbreviations: ALMANACH, Algorithm for the Management of Childhood Illnesses; ePOCT+, Electronic Point-of-Care Test Plus; IeDA, Integrated eDiagnosis Approach; IMCI, Integrated Management of Childhood Illness; WHO, World Health Organization.