National Guideline Clearinghouse (NGC) is a database of evidence-based

Evidence-based medicine

Evidence-based medicine or evidence-based practice aims to apply the best available evidence gained from the scientific method to clinical decision making. It seeks to assess the strength of evidence of the risks and benefits of treatments and diagnostic tests...

 clinical practice guidelines and related documents. It is maintained as a public resource by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality is a part of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, which supports research designed to improve the outcomes and quality of health care, reduce its costs, address patient safety and medical errors, and broaden access to effective...

 (AHRQ) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The NGC aims to provide physicians, nurses, and other health professionals, health care providers, health plans, integrated delivery systems, purchasers and others an accessible mechanism for obtaining objective, detailed information on clinical practice guidelines and to further their dissemination, implementation and use. The database is updated weekly with new and revised guidelines. The currency of all guidelines is verified annually through NGC's Annual Verification process.

The site features:

• A Guideline Comparison utility that gives users the ability to generate side-by-side comparisons for any combination of two or more guidelines
• Guideline Syntheses prepared by NGC staff, comparing guidelines covering similar topics, highlighting areas of similarity and difference. NGC Guideline Syntheses often provide a comparison of guidelines developed in different countries, providing insight into commonalities and differences in international health practices.
• An electronic forum, NGC-L for exchanging information on clinical practice guidelines, their development, implementation and use
• An Annotated Bibliography database where users can search for citations for publications and resources about guidelines, including guideline development and methodology, structure, evaluation, and implementation.

See also

• U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)