Clinical practice guidelines are collections of practical information for use by doctors and other medical professionals. Often, these are gleaned from systematic review of medical journals and other published material. They are a prime tool for evidence based medicine, and require frequent updating as new information becomes available.

It has been found (Kolata 2004) that some simple clinical practice guidelines are not routinely followed to the extent they might be. It has been found that providing a nurse or other medical assistant with a checklist of recommended procedures can result in the attending physician being reminded in a timely manner regarding procedures that might have been overlooked.

In the USA, the National Guideline Clearinghouse produces guidelines. In the United Kingdom, this task is performed by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE). In The Netherlands, two bodies (CBO and NHG) publish specialist and primary care guidelines, respectively.

Reference

1. Gina Kolata Program Coaxes Hospitals to See Treatments Under Their Noses. New York Times December 25, 2004. Article (site requires registration and payment of a fee).

External links

• National Guideline Clearinghouse™ (NGC), a public resource for evidence-based clinical practice guidelines. NGC is an initiative of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
• 2004 report Hospital Quality Alliance (HQA), a project of the Hospital Quality Initiative (HQI) of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)