Using guideline-based medicine to improve patient care

Clinical practice guidelines are an integral component of the effort to improve healthcare quality and outcomes. They systematically appraise and summarize scientific evidence and provide evidence-based practice recommendations to guide healthcare decisions on a specific clinical topic. Clinical practice guidelines set a reference standard for evidence-based practice that can be used by clinicians, third-party payers, and governments as a benchmark for quality to improve patient care. This chapter describes the rationale, use, and standards of trustworthy clinical practice guidelines as established by the Institute of Medicine. It also highlights the critical role of implementation science in bringing guideline-concordant care into clinical practice to improve patient care and healthcare quality.