Table 1 Definition of guidelines, practice protocols and ICPs.
Guideline | Clinical practice guidelines | Care pathway | |
|---|---|---|---|
Focus | Specific clinical circumstances | Treatment and/or prevention | The quality and co-ordination of care |
Definition | Systematically developed statements to help practitioners and patients make decisions about appropriate health care | A suggested course of treatment and/or treatment service for a specific diagnosis, functional deficit or problem area | Structured, multi-disciplinary plans of care |
Goals | Makes specific recommendations on health care and links these to research evidence | Highlights major therapeutic or preventive interventions Identifies choices of different courses or paths of treatment | Supports the implementation of clinical guidelines and protocols |
Outputs | Provides a summary and appraisal of the best available research evidence or expert consensus Highlights the strength of the evidence underlying each recommendation Describes barriers and facilitators for each recommendation | Provides a logical flow of interventions. Provides detailed recommendations that build on those made in SPCs guidelines | Provides detailed guidance for each stage in the management of a patient and key performance indicators |
Users | Clinicians, patients and third parties (all stakeholders involved) | Specific to clinicians | A multidisciplinary clinical team |
Components | (1) Appraisal of literature (research evidence or expert consensus) (2) Summary of recommendations (3) An outline of how guidelines should be implemented and how adherence monitored | List of major therapeutic or preventive interventions Goals: When interventions should be achieved Options for different choices of treatment and/or prevention | (1) Timeline (2) Categories of care/intervention (3) Intermediate and long term outcome criteria (4) A variance record |