Practice guidelines are developed by a panel of experts, frequently convened as a group within a professional medical society, that outlines the most up-to-date best practices based on the current evidence. Government agencies and public or private organizations may also produce clinical guidelines. These guidelines, developed after an extensive review of current literature on specific clinical areas or conditions, are designed to help both healthcare providers and patients in making clinical decisions. As noted at The George Washington University’s Himmelfarb Health Sciences Library, “Good guidelines clearly define the topic; appraise and summarize the best evidence regarding prevention, diagnosis, prognosis, therapy, harm, and cost-effectiveness; and identify the decision points where this information should be integrated with clinical experience and patient wishes to determine practice.”
