How to Find Practice Guidelines: Home

This guide will help you:

• Find websites that provide lists of guidelines
• Learn how to search for guidelines through Medline, CINAHL, Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI), and TRIP
• Understand why, and what tools are available to evaluate guidelines

Please use the tabs to the left to navigate this guide.

In healthcare, guidelines often relate to directions or principles presenting current or future rules of policy for assisting health care practitioners in patient care decisions regarding diagnosis, therapy, or related clinical circumstances.

The guidelines may be developed by government agencies at any level, institutions, professional societies, governing boards, or by the convening of expert panels. Guidelines form a basis for the evaluation of all aspects of health care and delivery.

There are several resources that can be used for finding guidelines:

• Websites
• Disease oriented-websites (e.g. American Diabetes Association, Health and Stroke Foundation)
• Associations and Organizations (e.g. Registered Nurses Association of Ontario, National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence) 
• Guideline specific databases (CMA Infobase, National Guideline Clearinghouse)
• Medical databases (Joanna Briggs Institute, Medline, CINAHL)

Explore this guide to explore each of these resource types.