Healthcare Management

Clinical Practice Guidelines We Can Trust

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Clinicians can no longer stay abreast of the rapidly expand- ing knowledge bases related to health. The number of random- ized controlled trials published in MEDLINE (a medical literature database) grew from 5,000 per year in 1978–1985 to 25,000 per year in 1994–2001. Furthermore, contentions that much of the literature may be biased and not applicable to important subsets of target populations have caused its quality to be suspect. Overall, clini- cians increasingly are barraged with a vast volume of evidence of uncertain value. Hence, critically appraised and synthesized scien- tific evidence has become fundamental to clinical practice. At the same time, and particularly under conditions of uncertainty regard- ing optimal decisions, clinician experiential knowledge and skill (the “art of medicine”) and patient values and preferences remain essential contributors to quality healthcare practice, in a complex interplay with science. Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) embody and support the interrelationships among these critical contributors to clinical deci- sion making. Rather than dictating a one-size-fits-all approach to patient care, CPGs are able to enhance clinician and patient deci- sion making by clearly describing and appraising the scientific evi- dence and reasoning (the likely benefits and harms) behind clinical recommendations, making them relevant to the individual patient encounter

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Series Title

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Call Number

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Publisher

: ., 2011

Collation

1-291

Language

English

ISBN/ISSN

978-0-309-38729-3

Classification

NONE

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Edition

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Subject(s)

Clinical Practice Guidelines We Can Trust

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