What is an evidence-based clinical practice guideline?
To answer that question, we must first examine its components. A “Clinical Practice Guideline” (CPG) has been defined in a very structured manner by the Institute of Medicine as a “systematically developed statement to assist practitioner and patient decisions about appropriate health care for specific clinical circumstances.” “Evidence-based” implies that the document or recommendation has been created using an unbiased and transparent process of systematically reviewing, appraising, and using the best clinical research findings of the highest value to aid in the delivery of optimum clinical care to patients. Thus, a meaningful answer to the question is that evidence-based CPGs are a series of recommendations on clinical care, supported by the best available evidence in the clinical literature. Having defined evidence-based CPGs, we now have more questions to address, including the following: Are evidence-based CPGs superior to typical CPGs? How are evidence-based CPGs developed? How
