Practice Guidelines

  • The Canadian Chiropractic Association and the Canadian Federation of Chiropractic Regulatory Boards Clinical Practice Guidelines Development Initiative (The CCA/CFCRB-CPG). Chiropractic clinical practice guideline: evidence-based treatment of adult neck pain not due to whiplash. J Can Chiro Assoc 2005; 49(3):160-209.  PDF Version  Online Version  
      
  • Clinical guidelines for chiropractic practice in Canada [Glenerin Guidelines]: proceedings of a consensus conference commissioned by the Canadian Chiropractic Association, Glenerin Inn, Mississauga, Ont., April 3 to 7, 1993. Toronto ON: Canadian Chiropractic Association, 1994. Link  
     
  • Spitzer WO, Skovron ML, Salmi LR, Cassidy JD, Duranceau J, Suissa S et al. Scientific monograph of the Quebec Task Force on Whiplash-Associated Disorders: redefining "whiplash" and its management. Spine 1995; 20(8 Suppl):1S-73S. PubMed Abstract  
     
  • The International Classification of Headache Disorders: 2nd edition. Cephalalgia 2004; 24 Suppl 1:9-160. Full Text  
     
  • Acute Low Back Pain Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement (ICSI). [1999]   Link
     
  • CCGPC: Council on Chiropractic Guidelines and Practice Parameters.  Link
     
  • ICA: International Chiropractic Association Committee on Chiropractic Practice Guidelines and Protocols. Recommended Clinical Protocols and Guidelines for the Practice of Chiropractic.  Link 
     
  • New Zealand Guidelines Group. New Zealand acute low back pain guide: incorporating the Guide to assessing psychosocial yellow flags in acute low back pain. Wellington, New Zealand: Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC), 2004.  Full Text
      
  • Danish Institute for Health Technology Assessment (DIHTA). Low-back pain: frequency, management and prevention from an HTA perspective. Copenhagen, Denmark: DIHTA, 1999.  Full Text
     
  • Swedish Council on Technology Assessment in Health Care (SBU). Back pain, neck pain: an evidence based review [summary and conclusions]. Stockholm, Sweden: SBU, 2000.  Full Text 

Guideline Databases & Web Sites

Note: Some terms appear in CAPS below, for clarity only. They are not necessary when searching. 
  • MEDLINE via PubMed – Find relevant search terms using Medical Subject Headings [MeSH terms] 

    Examples – PRACTICE GUIDELINES; GUIDELINES [for guidelines in the field of health care and clinical medicine, use PRACTICE GUIDELINES]; GUIDELINE ADHERENCE. Tip: Copy and paste these terms directly into the MeSH browser.  [View scope note for PRACTICE GUIDELINES.] [Click here for MeSH information from the National Library of Medicine.]

    Publication types – GUIDELINE; PRACTICE GUIDELINE. Use for actual guidelines; choose Publication Type in Limits screen, or type PRACTICE GUIDELINE [pt] in PubMed search screen. [PubMed abstract]

    Text words – Clinical practice guidelines may also be called practice policies, parameters, pathways; to capture the implementation process, use words like implement*, improvement, impact, effectiveness, compliance, adoption.  
    implement* used with an asterisk is a search technique called truncation, which retrieves all forms of the root word.
       
  • CHID Online [Combined Health Information Database] – "CHID is a bibliographic database produced by health-related agencies of the [U.S.] Federal Government. This database provides titles, abstracts, and availability information for health information and health education resources." Detailed Search. Use GUIDELINES as a descriptor [subject term] Enclose phrases in "quotation marks".  
  • The Cochrane Collaboration – Free site, abstracts only. Full, licensed version available by subscription through Wiley InterScience. MeSH thesaurus available: use PRACTICE GUIDELINES; Search "practice guideline*" as a phrase [do not use quotation marks]; use Search History feature to combine statements.
  • The Index to Chiropractic Literature – Free database of chiropractic journals, created by the Chiropractic Library Consortium (CLIBCON). Search the phrase "PRACTICE GUIDELINES" as a subject.

Suggested Reading

  • Annotated Bibliographies from the National Guideline Clearinghouse. Link  
  • The Canadian Chiropractic Association and the Canadian Federation of Chiropractic Regulatory Boards Clinical Practice Guidelines Development Initiative (The CCA/CFCRB-CPG) development, dissemination, implementation, evaluation, and revision (DevDIER) [report]. J Can Chiro Assoc 2004; 48(1):56-72. Full Text  
  • Papadopoulos C. The development of Canadian clinical practice guidelines: a literature review and synthesis of findings. J Can Chiro Assoc 2003; 47(1):39-57. Full Text 
  • CCGPC Articles [Council on Chiropractic Guidelines and Practice Parameters]. Link to Articles Text 
  • Grimshaw JM, Thomas RE, MacLennan G, Fraser C, Ramsay CR, Vale L et al. Effectiveness and efficiency of guideline dissemination and implementation strategies. Health Technol Assess 2004; 8(6):iii-72. Full Text  
  • Oxman A. Grading quality of evidence and strength of recommendations. BMJ 2004; 328(7454):1490. Full Text  
  • How to use a clinical practice guideline. Hayward RSA [and others] for the Evidence Based Medicine Working Group.  Based on the Users Guides to Evidence-based Medicine and reproduced with permission from JAMA. (1995;274(7):570-4) and (1995;274(20):1630-2). Full Text  
  • Translating Guidelines Into Practice: Implementation and Physician Behavior Change [theme issue]. Chest;18 (2 Suppl) August 2000. Full Text  
  • Davis DA, Taylor-Vaisey AL.  Translating guidelines into practice. A systematic review of theoretic concepts, practical experience and research evidence in the adoption of clinical practice guidelines. CMAJ 1997 Aug 15;157(4):408-16. Full Text