- iCAHE Guideline Clearinghouse
- About clinical guidelines
- Library of scored allied health guidelines
- Guidelines with iCAHE Methodological Input
iCAHE Guideline Clearinghouse
The iCAHE Guideline Clearinghouse is a resource for Allied Health focused Clinical Guidelines. The iCAHE guideline checklist can provide clinicians with a quick way of appraising the methodological quality of a clinical guideline (see validation paper here). It consists of 14 questions important to guideline construction and can be used either as a checklist or a total score. This checklist does not include applicability questions, as deciding on whether a guideline is relevant to specific contexts of practice is the next step, after determining its quality. Once clinicians have determined that a clinical practice guideline is of good methodological quality, they should then consider whether recommendations in the guideline are relevant to their clinical questions, their type of practice, their patients’ needs and choices, the context of their practice, and their clinical experience and skills. Determining whether clinical guidelines are relevant to individual patients, clinicians and contexts is an individual thing, and is part of the evidence-based practice process. Once recommendations from high quality clinical practice guidelines are identified as being relevant, clinicians should consider implementation issues. These are outlined on Implementation Central
About Clinical Guidelines
What is a Clinical Guideline?
- Clinical Guidelines bring together the best available research evidence
- They help guide clinicians in providing standardised care for patients
- They provide benchmarks for best-practice
- They may be applicable to a number of allied health disciplines
For more information on guidelines look at Prof Karen Grimmer's presentation (PDF 978KB)
What does a Clinical Guideline look like?
- Clinical Guideline documents usually contain numerous recommendations
- These recommendations relate to specific elements of care for a particular clinical condition
- Recommendations are linked to underlying research evidence
How do I know if a Clinical Guideline is of good quality?
- The quality of Clinical Guidelines are dependant on their currency and the rigor with which they have been developed
- High quality guidelines are developed using evidence-based methodologies such as those recommended by the National Health & Medical Research Council (NHMRC)
- The iCAHE guideline checklist can provide clinicians with a quick way of appraising the quality of a clinical guideline. It consists of 14 questions and can be used either as a checklist or a total score.
- Download a copy of the iCAHE Guideline Quality Checklist (PDF-155KB)
- A good clinical guideline should recommend the most appropriate method to implement its recommendations. For information on evidence implementation, visit Dr. Saravana Kumar's website which is dedicated to the implementation of clinical guidelines: Implementation Central.
Articles relating to evaluating clinical guidelines.
Semlitsch T, Blank WA, Kopp IB, Siering U, Siebenhofer A (2015). Evaluating Guidelines: A Review of Key Quality Criteria. Deutsches Ärzteblatt International, 112(27-28), 471. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4524962/
Vlayen J, Aertgeerts B, Hannes K, Sermeus W, Ramaekers D (2005). A systematic review of appraisal tools for clinical practice guidelines: multiple similarities and one common deficit. International Journal for Quality in Health Care, 17(3), 235-242. http://intqhc.oxfordjournals.org/content/17/3/235.long
Scored Allied Health Guidelines
iCAHE provides a clearinghouse of scored clinical guidelines, the guidelines are scored using the iCAHE Guideline Quality Checklist (PDF - 154kb)
Please choose a category:
- Featured Guideline
- Cancer
- Childhood Obesity
- Chronic Disease
- Discharge Planning
- Low Back Pain
- Musculoskeletal
- Neurological
- Nutrition
- Paediatrics
- Sports Medicine
- Other
A number of the guidelines currently included in the iCAHE Guideline Clearinghouse are described in iCAHE's second textbook:
Practical Tips for using and developing Guidelines: An Allied Health Primer.
If you know of an allied health related clinical guideline that you would like to see included in this list, please contact iCAHE's Janine Dizon.
Additional Guideline Clearinghouses
National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE)
Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN)
Guideline International Network (G-I-N)
http://www.g-i-n.net/library/international-guidelines-library/international-guidelines-library
National Guidelines Clearinghouse (NGC)
Clinical Guidelines Portal
https://www.clinicalguidelines.gov.au/
Guidelines with iCAHE Methodological Input
As an established research centre, iCAHE is able to provide the research and methodological resources needed to aid the development of guidelines. The Guidelines on this page have had methodological input by iCAHE working with various organisations. iCAHE also provides a clearinghouse of scored clinical guidelines, which are scored using the iCAHE Guideline Quality Checklist (PDF - 154kb).
Developed in conjunction with Sports Medicine Australia South Australia Branch:
Hot Weather and Sport Guidelines
http://www.sasma.com.au/Portals/3/Images/Resources/hot-weather-guidelines-web-download-doc-2007.pdf
Publications Supporting the Guideline
- Grimmer K, King E, Larsen T, Farquharson T, Potter A, Sharpe P, de Wit H (2006): Prevalence of hot weather conditions related to sports participants guideline: A South Australian investigation. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport 9 (1-2 May): 72-80
- Larsen T, Kumar S, Grimmer K, Potter A, Farquharson P, Sharpe P (2007): A systematic review of guidelines for the prevention of heat illness in community-based sports participants and officials Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport (2007) 10 (1): 11-26
- Grimmer-Somers K, Kumar S (2007): Letter to the Editor: Response to Dr Brotherhood's letter. Science and Medicine in Sport 10 (4): 268
Developed in conjunction with NHMRC and an expert steering committee:
Guidelines for the Screening, Prognosis, Diagnosis, Management and Prevention of Glaucoma
http://www.nhmrc.gov.au/guidelines/publications/cp113-cp113b
Publications Supporting the Guideline
- Worley A, Grimmer-Somers K. (2009): Should we be worried about glaucoma? Why the prevalence of glaucoma is variably reported Primary Health Care Research & Development. 10(4):343-356
- Worley A, Grimmer-Somers K (2011): Risk factors for glaucoma: what do they really mean? Australian Journal of Primary Health 17: 233-239
Developed in conjunction with The Continence Foundation of Australia and an expert working party:
Guidelines for the Use of Support Pessaries in the Management of Pelvic Organ Prolapse
Pessary Guidelines (pdf 1.69MB)
The following management algorithm is a tool to assist general practitioners, continence nurses and continence and women's health physiotherapists in primary care to prescribe and fit pessaries for women with pelvic organ prolapse.
Management Pathway Algorithm: Management of Pelvic Organ Prolapse with Pessaries
