Practice Guideline Development, Grading, and Assessment.

Published clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) are abundant and more easily accessible than ever because of advances in technology and communication and the widespread use of electronic medical literature. To make educated therapy recommendations based on published guidelines, it is important for clinicians to understand the process of guideline development and to be familiar with the resources used to assess guidelines. To do this, clinicians must know the commonly used systems for grading guideline recommendations and for evaluating guideline quality. By increasing their understanding of guideline development, grading, and evaluation processes, clinicians can appropriately use guidelines and provide the highest level of patient care.