title: Clinical policies: their history, future, medical legal implications, and growing importance to physicians.
abstract: The proliferation of research, particularly research into evidence-based care and quality improvement, has brought about a void in the need to educate, summarize, and distill scientific advances. Clinical policies or practice guidelines are a unique method of filling this void. While the number of policies published has increased significantly over the last 10 years, their impact on physician practice remains ill-defined. This article aims to provide historical background and methodology, explore physician attitudes toward them and their effectiveness at impacting clinical care, as well as discuss their future medical legal implications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Brown University School of Medicine, Providence, Rhode Island 02903, USA.
authors.forename: Anthony M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Napoli
authors.forename: Andy
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jagoda
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D004635:Emergency Medicine; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D006801:Humans; D008318:Malpractice / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D011787:Quality of Health Care