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A Primer on Practice Management Guidelines

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The Acute Management of Surgical Disease

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Abstract

Research studies have grown exponentially in the past 20 years, and clinicians are no longer able to remain abreast of all the literature. Yet, it is expected that medical providers will practice evidence-based medicine, making every effort to apply the best medical knowledge to the care of their patients. To assist clinicians, practice management guidelines (PMGs) are an essential tool to distill and evaluate the quality of the literature and apply it to specific management decisions. Over the past 30 years, methods for developing PMGs evolved to improve both rigor and transparency. To meet both of these goals, the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) methodology was developed and has been widely adopted. Well-developed, reliable PMGs reduce clinical practice variability, educate clinicians, and potentially decrease healthcare costs. Trauma and emergency general surgeons have embraced PMGs as useful tools to guide practice and improve the outcomes of surgical patients.

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Abbreviations

AAST:

American Association for the Surgery of Trauma

ACS:

American College of Surgeons

AHCPR:

Agency for Health Care Policy and Research

AHRQ:

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

ATLS:

Advance Trauma Life Support

COI:

Conflicts of interest (COI)

EAST:

Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma

GRADE:

Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation

IOM:

National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine

MeSH:

Medical subject headings

NICE:

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence

PICO:

Population, intervention, comparator, and outcomes

PMG:

Practice management guideline

RCT:

Randomized controlled trial

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery, Harborview Medical Center, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA

    Rebecca G. Maine & Bryce R. H. Robinson

Authors
  1. Rebecca G. Maine
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  2. Bryce R. H. Robinson
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bryce R. H. Robinson .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, Department of Surgery, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA

    Martin D. Zielinski

  2. Trauma and Surgical Care Clinic, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA

    Oscar Guillamondegui

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Maine, R.G., Robinson, B.R.H. (2022). A Primer on Practice Management Guidelines. In: Zielinski, M.D., Guillamondegui, O. (eds) The Acute Management of Surgical Disease. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-07881-1_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-07881-1_7

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-07880-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-07881-1

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

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