Understanding the recommendations made in this document
| Target group | Strong recommendations# | Conditional (weak) recommendations |
| Patients | All or almost all informed people would choose the recommended choice for or against an intervention. | Most informed people would choose the recommended course of action, but a substantial number would not. |
| Clinicians | Most patients should receive the recommended course of action. | Recognise that different choices will be appropriate for different patients. Clinicians and other healthcare providers need to devote more time to the process of shared decision making by which they ensure that the informed choice reflects individual values and preferences; decision aids and shared decision making are particularly useful. |
| Policy makers | The recommendation can be adopted as a policy in most situations. | Policy making will require substantial debate and involvement of many stakeholders. |
#: strong recommendations based on high quality evidence will apply to most patients for whom these recommendations are made, but they may not apply to all patients in all conditions; no recommendation can take into account all of the unique features of individual patients and clinical circumstances.