Browse our list of CPGs (published and in development) or nominate a CPG topic for the CPG Steering Committee’s consideration. The IOM (2011) defined Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPG) as “statements that include recommendations intended to optimize patient care that are informed by a systematic review of evidence and an assessment of the benefits and harms of alternative care options.”  The foundation of the CPG is a systematic review of the evidence of a condition. The process has a major focus on the strength of the evidence by which clinical decision-making for that condition is based.  The Guideline also includes a set of recommendations, based on the evidence and value judgments regarding benefits and harms of alternative care options to address patient management.

CPG Steering Committee Chair
Tracy M. Spitznagle, PT, DPT
Board-Certified Women’s Health Clinical Specialist
cpgsteering@aptapelvichealth.org

Clinical Practice Guideline vs Systematic Evidence Review
In 2011, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) defined a systematic evidence review as “a scientific investigation that focuses on a specific question and uses explicit, prespecified scientific methods to identify, select, assess, and summarize the findings of similar but separate studies. It may include a quantitative synthesis (meta-analysis), depending on the available data.” Systematic evidence reviews of comparative effectiveness research to learn what is known and not known about the potential benefits and harms of alternative drugs, devices, and other healthcare services provides the best evidence to inform clinical decisions.