Table 1.

Examples of formal and informal recommendations

Type of recommendation	Example
Formal recommendation	For patients with uncomplicated DVT, the (ASH) guideline panel suggests offering home treatment over hospital treatment (conditional recommendation based on low certainty in the evidence of effects).9
Informal recommendation	We suggest that most patients with DVT can be managed as outpatients.10

Formal recommendations are actionable statements based on systematic reviews of the evidence that list a specific patient population, intervention, and comparison and include a direction and strength as well as a rating of the quality of the evidence. In the example formal recommendation in the table, the patient population is patients with uncomplicated DVT, the intervention is home treatment, the comparison is hospital treatment, the direction of the recommendation is in favor of home treatment, the strength of the recommendation is conditional or weak, and the quality of the evidence is low. Informal recommendations are also actionable statements that list a specific patient population and intervention, but they may not include a comparison, direction, or strength, and they do not include rating of the quality of evidence nor are they based on a systematic review of the evidence. In the example informal recommendation, the patient population is patients with DVT, and the intervention is home or outpatient treatment. The comparison is not stated but is implied to be inpatient treatment. The direction of the recommendation is in favor of outpatient treatment, but the strength of the recommendation and quality of the evidence are not given.

DVT, deep vein thrombosis.