LibGuides: Medicine: Find Practice Guidelines

What makes a good practice guideline?

All practice guidelines are not created equal. Consider the following:

Scope and Purpose - Does the guideline specifically state the clinical question(s) it intends to answer and the patient population(s) to which it applies?
Stakeholder Involvement - Did the guideline development team include all relevant professional groups (physicians, nurses, pharmacists, etc.) and consider patient perspectives?
Rigor of Development - Is the guideline based on a thorough literature search? Is the process for appraising evidence and forming recommendations clearly described?
Clarity of Presentation - Is the guideline clear and comprehensible?
Applicability - Is the guideline realistic in the institutional environment where it is to be implemented?
Editorial Independence - Are there any conflicts of interest in the guideline development team or process?

AGREE II
Developed by the AGREE Collaboration, the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research & Evaluation (AGREE II) is a validated instrument for assessing the quality of clinical practice guidelines.

OSU WMC Clinical Practice Guidelines
Recommendations for management and treatment of medical conditions. Developed and peer-reviews by clinicians at OSU's Wexner Medical Center.
ECRI Guidelines Trust
An interactive free guideline portal which allows users to search current, evidence-based clinical practice guidelines, plus TRUST Scorecards and Guideline Briefs when available. One-time free registration is required. This resource is created by the same team that developed the AHRQ National Guidelines Clearinghouse, which closed down in July 2018.
National Guideline Clearinghouse
The National Guideline Clearinghouse from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is no longer available (July 2018). Check out the new ECRI Guidelines Trust link above for a similar resource.

PubMed This link opens in a new window
Provided by the US National Library of Medicine, PubMed is a freely available database containing more than 26 million citations for biomedical literature.
Limit your search to Practice Guidelines in PubMed by using the Article Types filter on the left-hand side of the screen. Display "Practice Guideline" as an option by first clicking "Customize".
Clinical Key This link opens in a new window
Contains content from several current Elsevier databases including MD Consult, First Consult, Procedures Consult, Clinics of North American and new content including over 900 eBooks. Limit your search to Practice Guidelines by selecting "Guidelines" from the dropdown menu.
AccessMedicine This link opens in a new window
Access to more than 60 medical titles including Harrison's Online, frequently updated content, thousands of images and illustrations, interactive self-assessment, case files, diagnostic tools, and more. Limit your search to Practice Guidelines by selecting "Guidelines" from the dropdown menu under Quick Reference.
TRIP Database This link opens in a new window
TRIP is a clinical search engine designed to allow users to quickly and easily find and use high-quality research evidence to support their practice and/or care. Limit your search to Practice Guidelines by refining to Guidelines on the right-hand side of the screen.

National Comprehensive Cancer Network Practice Guidelines
NCCN Guidelines are free to access. Simply register for an account, then select the type of cancer of interest and a list of options will expand.