Research Guides: Nursing Research Guide: Guidelines &amp; Protocols

Where to find Guidelines & Protocols

AccessMedicine
Click on "Quick Reference" to find the guidelines
CINAHL
Use the limiters, scroll down to the "publication type" to select "practice guidelines"
PsychiatryOnline
Look here for APA guidelines

Searching for guidelines in the literature? Use these search strategies to add to your concepts and narrow your results to guidelines:

PubMed search strategy for guidelines: (clinical[tiab] AND pathway[tiab]) OR (clinical[tiab] AND pathways[tiab]) OR (practice[tiab] AND parameter[tiab]) OR (practice[tiab] AND parameters[tiab]) OR algorithms[mesh:noexp] OR care pathway[tiab] OR care pathways[tiab] OR clinical protocols[mesh:noexp] OR Consensus[mesh:noexp] or consensus development conference[pt:noexp] OR "Consensus Development Conference, NIH"[pt:noexp] OR "Consensus Development Conferences as Topic"[Mesh:noexp] OR "Consensus Development Conferences, NIH as Topic"[Mesh:NoExp] OR critical pathway[mesh:noexp] OR guidance[tiab] OR guideline*[ti] OR guidelines as topic[mesh:noexp] or practice guidelines as topic[mesh:noexp] or Health Planning Guidelines[mesh:noexp] OR practice guideline[mesh:noexp]

Google Scholar search strategy: intitle:guideline OR intitle:guidelines OR intitle:"position statement" OR intitle:"best practice" OR intitle:consensus OR intitle:algorithm OR intitle:"standard orders" OR intitle:protocol OR intitle:recommendations

Search specific associations like the American Heart Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, etc. to view their guidelines.

American College of Physicians and the American Society of Internal Medicine
ACP-ASIM Clinical Practice Guidelines cover many areas on internal medicine, such as screening for cancer or other major diseases; diagnosis; treatment; and medical technology.
CPG Infobase: Clinical Practice Guidelines
Canadian Medical Association; a database of evidence based Canadian clinical practice guidelines. Includes 1200 guidelines developed or endorsed by medical or health organizations in Canada. Please note: some resources may only be available to members
ECRI Guidelines Trust
Advance safe and effective patient care with our repository of clinical practice guidelines, briefs, and scorecards
Health Services/Technology Assessment Texts (HSTAT)
Free resource; Evidence Reports, Protocols, and more.
National Comprehensive Cancer Network
Free registration is required before one can gain access to the guideline documents.
Patient Safety & Quality: Evidence Based Handbook for Nurses
Created by AHRQ; a comprehensive handbook for nurses on patient safety and quality
Registered Nurses Association of Ontario (RNAO) Clinical Practice Guidelines
"The purpose of the Best Practice Guideline program is to support Ontario Nurses by providing them with Best Practice Guidelines for client care." The association provides free online access to most of their guidelines.
U.S Preventive Services
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force is an independent, volunteer panel of national experts in disease prevention and evidence-based medicine. The Task Force works to improve the health of people nationwide by making evidence-based recommendations about clinical preventive services
Veteran Affairs & Department of Defense Clinical Practice Guidelines
Guidelines address patient cohorts, serve to reduce errors, and provide consistent quality of care and utilization of resources throughout and between the VA and DoD health care systems. Guidelines are also cornerstones for accountability and facilitate learning and the conduct of research. The guidelines on this site are those endorsed by the VA/DoD Evidence Based Practice Work Group