The Taskforce is an independent consortium of 35 national peak clinical groups, including major medical colleges and specialist societies. The recommendations of the Taskforce are developed by expert clinical panels, and then approved with complete consensus by our senior clinical expert panel and the Taskforce Steering Committee, comprising senior representatives from all 35 national organisations.
Hundreds of expert clinicians from around Australia contribute many hours every week to review the latest research on urgent and emerging diseases, currently COVID-19 and MPX, to maintain up to date, evidence-based recommendations for their peers – so they can provide the best care possible.
The Taskforce is funded by
Founding funders from March–December 2020:
Our responsibility is to provide the best possible guidance for Australian clinicians, balancing the potential benefits and harms of any recommendation. This is a responsibility that is taken very seriously by all involved in the Taskforce.
We provide specific, patient-focused recommendations for the clinical care of people with COVID-19 or MPX, where care for this patient group differs from usual care provided to patients with similar clinical conditions (pneumonia, severe acute respiratory distress, etc.).
Clinical guidelines are documents which provide evidence-based recommendations to help healthcare professionals and consumers make informed decisions about healthcare.
Living guidelines are continuously updated as new reliable evidence emerges.
The Taskforce uses a suite of new technologies to enable updating of evidence-based guidelines as soon as new research is published. The Evidence Team works around the clock to rapidly identify, evaluate and summarise global research findings.
Each week, guideline panels meet and use this evidence to update the national guidelines.
As per globally accepted methods and standards for evidence synthesis and guideline development, we will always use the best available evidence.
For questions about effectiveness of treatments, where randomised trial evidence is available, this provides the highest quality evidence as this design controls for known and unknown confounding factors.
We focus on developing unbiased guidance based on scientifically rigorous evidence using international best-practices as set out by the National Health Medical Research Council (NHMRC).
It is vital that health decisions are informed by the best available evidence, to ensure the best possible outcomes for people with COVID-19 or MPX.
The Taskforce includes observational studies where these are likely to be the best available evidence. For example, in situations where it’s not feasible or ethical to randomise. This is rarely the case when seeking to evaluate the effectiveness of pharmacological treatments.
These methods are consistent with national and international standards for evidence-based clinical guideline development.
Yes, where combination therapies are a clinically-relevant treatment option, and randomised trials have been conducted, we review this evidence.
A consensus recommendation is used when there is not enough evidence to give an evidence-based recommendation, but the relevant clinical panel still regards it as important to give a recommendation.
A consensus recommendation can be given for or against the intervention and is based on the experience and expertise of the panel together with any available evidence.
The Taskforce undertakes daily global evidence surveillance for COVID-19 and weekly global evidence surveillance for MPX. This surveillance includes key health research databases and other sources. We are also in frequent communication with international expert guideline groups.
Details of our searches are available in the methods section of the guidelines:
All our recommendations, evidence summaries, rationales and references can be found on our online guideline platform MAGICapp.
The Taskforce uses a world-leading ‘living evidence’ approach, which combines rigorous, evidence-based methods and rapid, weekly updating. This enables the Taskforce to modify and update recommendations rapidly in response to the publication of new research evidence.
The guidelines use the GRADE methods and are designed to meet Australian NHMRC standards.
Relevant new questions to be addressed are continually sought from stakeholders and practitioners. For prioritised questions, the evidence is actively monitored and updated. Evidence surveillance combines horizon scans and targeted searches. An evidence team appraises and synthesises evidence and prepares evidence-to-decision frameworks to inform development of recommendations by multidisciplinary panels. A guidelines leadership group oversees the development of recommendations by these expert panels and is advised by a consumer panel.
The recommendations of the Taskforce are developed by our expert clinical panels, and then approved with complete consensus by our senior clinical expert panel and the Taskforce Steering Committee, comprising senior representatives from all 35 national organisations.
The Taskforce website provides a summary list (with links) of all topics that are covered by the Treatment guidelines but full details of recommendations, evidence summaries, rationales and references can be found on our online guideline platform MAGICapp.
After initial approval by the Guidelines Leadership Group, all recommendations require 100% consensus by our 35 member organisations.
Our treatment guideline approval process is entirely independent of all levels of Government.
A consensus recommendation is used when there is not enough evidence to give an evidence-based recommendation, but the relevant clinical panel still regards it as important to give a recommendation.
A consensus recommendation can be given for or against the intervention and is based on the experience and expertise of the panel together with any available evidence.
Please refer to the Taskforce Conflict of Interest Policy.
The Taskforce has an independent international Conflict of Interest Committee:
For COVID-19 resources:
For MPX resources:
[APA style] National Clinical Evidence Taskforce (2022 version 1). Australian guidelines for the clinical care of people with MPX. https://clinicalevidence.net.au/mpx/
[Vancouver style] National Clinical Evidence Taskforce (2022 version 1). Australian guidelines for the clinical care of people with MPX. 2022 [version 1]. Available from: https://clinicalevidence.net.au/mpx/
Please send your question to [email protected]