The Institute of Medicine (IOM) defines a clinical practice guideline 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.” Similar to systematic reviews and meta-analyses, these publication types contain a wealth of information on a given clinical topic/question. Take a look at the resources below from the MSK Library website for finding guidelines.

EBM Guidelines: Evidence-Based Medicine (Wiley Online Library)

• EBM Guidelines is an easy-to-use collection of clinical guidelines for primary and ambulatory care linked to the best available evidence. Continuously updated, EBM Guidelines follows the latest developments in clinical medicine and brings evidence into practice.
• Try finding the guideline on occupational asthma treatment.

National Guideline Clearinghouse (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality)

• The National Guideline Clearinghouse (NGC) mission is to provide physicians and other health professionals, health care providers, health plans, integrated delivery systems, purchasers, and others an accessible mechanism for obtaining objective, detailed information on clinical practice guidelines and to further their dissemination, implementation, and use.
• Try searching NGC for guidelines on this topic: breast cancer screening.

NCCN Guidelines (National Comprehensive Cancer Network)

• The NCCN Guidelines are a comprehensive set of guidelines detailing the sequential management decisions and interventions that currently apply to 97 percent of cancers affecting patients in the United States. In addition, separate guidelines provide recommendations for some of the key cancer prevention and screening topics as well as supportive care considerations.
• *Must first register with the site in order to access and download full text guidelines*
• Try finding the guideline on bone cancer. Hint: look for the section to browse guidelines by cancer site.

BMJ Clinical Evidence (British Medical Journal)

• Clinical Evidence summarizes the current state of knowledge – and uncertainty – about interventions used to prevent and treat important clinical conditions. They do so by searching and appraising the literature to create rigorous systematic reviews of evidence and practice guidelines on the benefits and harms of clinical interventions.
• Try finding a guideline on this topic: colon cancer screening.

For assistance locating guidelines or help searching any of the resources listed above, there are many ways to ask us – take your pick!