Clinical practice guidelines

Clinical practice guidelines are systematically developed statements to assist practitioner and patient decisions about appropriate health care. Guidelines are produced by a variety of organizations and are usually freely available.

CMA Infobase: Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPGs)
The CMA Infobase is a public database of evidence-based clinical practice guidelines (CPGs). Maintained by the Canadian Medical Association, it currently includes over 1200 CPGs developed or endorsed by an authorative medical or health organization in Canada.

Note: Please be aware that access to CPG Infobase will be available until Dec. 1, 2023.

Nursing Best Practice Guidelines (RNAO)
Best practice guidelines and other tooks for client care for Ontario nurses. There are currently 50 published guidelines as well as a toolkit and educator's resource to support implementation. Many of these publications are available in French, among other languages and we continue to translate materials on an ongoing basis.

Standards and Guidelines of the College of Nurses of Ontario
The College provides practice standards and guidelines to support nurses in providing safe and ethical nursing care to the people of Ontario.

Clinical Practice Guidelines of the Indigenous Program at the University of Ottawa.

Canadian clinical practice guidelines

Alberta Toward Optimized Practice (TOP)
Toward Optimized Practice (TOP) helps Alberta physicians implement clinical practice improvements into their clinics using measurement and evidence with the goal of improving both patient care and clinical management.
Clinical Practice Guidelines and Protocols in British Columbia
BC Guidelines are clinical practice guidelines and protocols that provide recommendations to B.C. practitioners on delivering high quality, appropriate care to patients with specific clinical conditions or diseases. These “Made in BC” clinical practice guidelines are developed by the Guidelines and Protocol Advisory Committee (GPAC), an advisory committee to the Medical Services Commission... (English only)
Manitoba Health Communicable Disease Management Protocols
Communicable Disease Management Protocols The prevention, management and control of communicable diseases requires the active participation and cooperation of all health-care professionals and practitioners... (English only)
Cancer Care Ontario Guidelines
Cancer Care Ontario guidelines cover the entire cancer continuum – prevention, screening, diagnostic assessment, treatment, palliative care, end-of-life care and survivorship. They contain recommendations for practice and policy that reflect the most current and best evidence available from healthcare research and expert opinion.
Québec - Directives cliniques aux professionnels
French mainly. Few documents in English.
Gouvernment of Canada - Disease Prevention and Control Guidelines
The guidelines have been published by PHAC to support Canada's disease prevention and control efforts.
Within each category, the guidelines are classified alphabetically by main topic or disease condition (appearing in bold) and then by year
A Guide to the Canadian Medical Association Handbook on Clinical Practice Guidelines
From the CMAJ, November 6, 2007, 177(10).

International clinical practice guidelines

US National Guideline Clearinghouse (NSG) Warning Site not updated
National Guideline Clearinghouse (also known as NGC and guideline.gov) website shuts down after July 16, 2018. United States
See alternative sites below and the section Searching for Guidelines
Guidelines International Network (GIN)
The Guidelines International Network (GIN) is a network of organisations and individuals interested in evidence-based guidelines and has one of the world’s largest international guideline libraries.
American College of Physisians Guidelines (ACP)
United States
National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE)
United Kingdom
International Guidelines - Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario
WHO guidelines
World Health Organization Guidelines
Epistemonikos
Epistemonikos is a collaborative, multilingual database of health evidence. It is the largest source of systematic reviews relevant for health-decision making, and a large source of other types of scientific evidence.
Epistemonikos est une base de données collaborative et multilingue de santé, basée sur les évidences, source de revues systématiques pertinentes pour la prise de décision en matière de santé, et d'autres types de preuves scientifiques.
Guideline Central - Guideline Summaries
Guideline Central is dedicated to providing healthcare professionals with evidence-based clinical decision-support tools that are current, practical, and easily accessible.