Clinical practice guidelines

Research continually produces new evidence that can improve care and lives. Guidelines summarize and evaluate the available evidence to assist health professionals in proposing the best management strategies for a patient with a given condition. They are based on the trade-off between the benefits and harms of an intervention, versus the quality of the underpinning evidence. Nonprofit medical associations have expert committees to review available evidence to update their guidelines regularly.

Guidelines and their recommendations should facilitate the decision-making of health professionals in their daily practice. They are advisory rather than compulsory, but should be considered by healthcare and other professionals when planning care for individual patients. However, guidelines are not a substitute for the patient’s relationship with their practitioner. The final decisions concerning an individual patient must be made by the responsible health professional(s) based on what they consider to be most appropriate given the circumstances. These decisions are made in consultation with the patient and caregiver as appropriate.

The content of Biotandem is exclusively based on current medical practice guidelines.