title: Closing the gap between science and practice: the need for professional leadership.
abstract: Major opportunity exists to better align clinical science and clinical practice. To do so will require efforts not only to develop clinical practice guidelines, but to facilitate their application in practice. The American College of Cardiology operates a program to develop and assess the effectiveness of tools that facilitate the application of guidelines in practice. Here we review what we have learned about the process of guideline implementation, lay out the major research questions that need to be addressed, and argue that professional societies play a critical role in moving from guideline development to application.
authors.affiliation: University of Michigan Medical Center, Ann Arbor, USA.
authors.forename: Kim A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Eagle
authors.forename: Arthur J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Garson
authors.forename: George A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Beller
authors.forename: Cary
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sennett
mesh_terms: D002309:Cardiology / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D007857:Leadership; D008824:Michigan; D010865:Pilot Projects; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012955:Societies, Medical / Q000458:organization & administration*; D014481:United States