ABSTRACT
In 1998, the US Government launched the National Guidelines Clearinghouse (NGC),1 an Internet website intended to make evidence-based clinical practice guidelines and related abstract, summary, and comparison materials widely available to healthcare professionals. It is available on the World Wide Web at www.guideline.gov. The NGC database contains evidence-based CPGs as defined by the Institute of Medicine: ‘Clinical practice guidelines are systematically developed statements to assist practitioner and patient decisions about appropriate health care for specific clinical circumstances.’ Guidelines must meet minimum criteria in order to be included in the NGC.
