Module 1: Professional Accountability and Prescribing
Lesson 5
Critical Appraisal of Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPGs):
Key components
CPGs require a separate critical appraisal tool (CAT) to best check for quality.
Some of the absolutely essential components included in any CAT which should be applied to any clinical practice guideline are
- author’s affiliations and groups that have endorsed the guidelines;
- conflicts of interest for those developing the guideline;
- type of literature search to ensure inclusiveness of research in guideline development;
- rating quality and methodology used to determine the quality of the rating scale used for a particular guideline;
- verification that guidelines presented are clinically practical and actionable; and
- commitment for guideline update at a designated future time.
Related Resources:
- An excellent resource to consult with searching for credible clinical practice guidelines is the National Guidelines Clearinghouse (NGC).
- “Introductory Tool To Assist in Critical Appraisal of Clinical Practice Guidelines” and “General Critical Appraisal Tool for Beginners”
