title: Clinical practice guidelines and practice parameters for the child neurologist.
abstract: Guidance about how to practice child neurology has been around for decades. Recently, however, clinical practice guidelines, practice parameters, and standardized clinical assessment and management plans are gaining increasing attention. This overview, written for child neurologists, addresses such issues as the following: what are clinical practice guidelines, why are they needed, how are they created, how should they be created, how well are they accepted and adhered to, what influences acceptance and adherence, do guidelines improve care, do they reduce costs, will they be viewed by courts as the standard of care, how can they be updated and improved, and are there better alternatives?
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. alan.leviton@childrens.harvard.edu
authors.forename: Alan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Leviton
authors.forename: Tobias
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Loddenkemper
authors.forename: Scott L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Pomeroy
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D006801:Humans; D009462:Neurology / Q000592:standards*; D010372:Pediatrics / Q000592:standards*; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology / Q000592:standards; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic
keywords: practice guideline; quality improvement; standardized clinical assessment