More about the National Guideline Clearinghouse

The National Guideline Clearinghouse is an outstanding resource for both physicians and patients with healthcare questions and is availabel at https://www.guideline.gov/ which is the home page. As the site says “NGC is a public resource for evidence based clinical practice guidelines.”

From the home page you can access guidelines by topic or organization issuing them or you can see a complete index of all the guidelines.

Guideline resources on the home page leads to  a list of guideline resources at
https://www.guideline.gov/resources/ with the following categories: AHRQ Evidence Reports, Hospital Acquired Conditions, Complimentary Web Sites, Mobile Resources (that can be downloaded to mobile devices), and Patient Education Materials.

The AHRQ Evidence Reports have two subdivisions, The Evidence-Based Practice Program and the Effective Health Care Program.

Examples of some of the Evidence Reports available at the Evidence-Based Practice Program tab at https://www.guideline.gov/resources/ahrq-evidence-reports.aspx include topics such as “Management of Acute Otitis Media: Update”, “Alzheimer’s Disease and Cognitive Decline”, and “Exercise Induced Bronchoconstriction and Asthma”.

These evidence reports examine the knowledge base for diagnosis and treatment of the conditions covered in each report. In tomorrow’s post I’ll look at the “Exercise Induced Bronchoconstriction and Asthma” as an example of one of these excellent Evidence Reports.

The Effective Health Care Program tab at at https://www.guideline.gov/resources/ahrq-evidence-reports.aspx?tab=2 provides “short, plain-language guides — tailored to clinicians, consumers, or policymakers — summarize research reviews’ findings on the benefits and harms of different treatment options. Consumer guides provide useful background on health conditions. Clinician and policymaker guides rate the strength of evidence behind a report’s conclusions.”

Examples of these Summary Guides for clinicians include “Managing Chronic Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease”, “Elective Induction of Labor Safety and Harms”, “Choosing Medications for Adults With Rheumatoid Arthritis”, and “Fracture Prevention Treatments for Postmenopausal Women With Osteoporosis”.

There are also excellent Summary Guides for consumers and examples include “Treatment Options for GERD or Acid Reflux Disease: A Review of the Research for Adults”, “Treatment Options for Rotator Cuff Tears: A Guide For Adults”, “Osteoarthritis of the Knee: A Guide for Adults”, and “Thinking About Inducing Your Labor: A Guide For Pregnant Women”.

Go to each of the pages in this article to see the tremendous resources available.

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