Draft Whiplash Guidelines

What’s this about?

SIRA is seeking feedback on the draft Australian clinical guidelines for health professionals managing people with whiplash-associated disorders, 4th edition.

The draft guidelines are intended to improve health, quality of life and social outcomes of people with whiplash associated disorders (WAD) by providing best-practice recommendations for health professionals delivering care and guide insurers managing claims to facilitate better outcomes for people with WAD.

A summary of the guideline recommendations is also available on the SIRA website. 

What’s changed?

These guidelines update the guidelines for the management of acute whiplash-associated disorders for health professionals, 3rd edition 2014.

Key changes include:

• updated recommendations for acute whiplash
• new section on chronic whiplash with respect to treatment, prognosis and assessment
• risk stratification protocols and tools for people with acute whiplash
• guideline development in accordance with the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) standards for clinical practice guidelines; and use of the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach to rate the quality of evidence and strength of recommendations
• national, rather than NSW-based guidelines. 

Have your say

Have your say by Wednesday 5 July 2023.

There are 2 ways you can provide feedback listed below.