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NGC Guideline Views

The National Guideline Clearinghouse™ (NGC) Template of Guideline Attributes is the primary tool used to create NGC content. This tool, represented by the Complete Summary, contains all of the key attributes used to summarize each guideline for the purposes of creating the various standard summary formats available on the NGC Web site.

There are many options for viewing guidelines available on the NGC Web site: Brief Summary, Complete Summary, Guideline (side-by-side) Comparison, Guideline Synthesis, Full-Text, XML View, Palm Download, MS Word, and Adobe PDF.

The default view is the Brief Summary -- when you select a particular guideline title from within a list of search or browse results, the system immediately links to the Brief Summary. From there, you may choose to view the Complete Summary, a Guideline Synthesis (where available), the Full-Text guideline (where available), the XML view, the Palm download, or the Word download by choosing the appropriate option within the summary box located on the top left side of the screen. Users may also view two or more guideline titles using the Guideline Comparison feature.

Brief Summary

This view provides a short summary of the key guideline attributes, including the bibliographic source(s), guideline developer(s) and endorser(s), the status of the guideline, major recommendations, the evidence supporting the major recommendations and information about the availability of the guideline.

Brief Summary

Complete Summary

This view provides a summary of all guideline attributes, including guideline developer(s), guideline status, source(s) of funding, financial disclosures/conflicts of interests, subject area, guideline objectives, intended users, clinical specialty, target population, types of interventions covered, major outcomes considered, benefits and harms, and major recommendations. A key focus of the Complete Summary is the guideline methodology, including the methods used to collect the evidence, methods used to assess the quality and strength of the evidence, methods used to analyze the evidence, methods used to formulate and rate the recommendations, methods used to validate the guideline recommendations, and the type of evidence supporting each major recommendation.

Complete Summary

Guideline Comparison

NGC provides you with the ability to generate side-by-side comparisons for any combination of two or more guidelines. A standard set of guideline attributes in the Guideline Comparison includes the guideline developer(s), guideline endorser(s), source(s) of funding; financial disclosures/conflicts of interest, subject area(s), clinical specialty, intended users, guideline objectives, major outcomes considered, guideline methodology, if an algorithm or implementation strategy were provided, and if patient information is available.

Sample Guideline Comparison

Creating Guideline Comparisons

Guideline Synthesis

NGC contains syntheses of selected guidelines that cover similar topic areas. Key elements of each synthesis include the scope of the guidelines, the interventions and practices considered, the major recommendations and the corresponding rating schemes and strength of the evidence, the areas of agreement, and the areas of disagreement.

NGC uses a combination of tables and narrative text to present each synthesis.

Guideline Syntheses are available for a selected number of guidelines and subject areas. When a Guideline Synthesis is available for a particular guideline, you can access this view by clicking on the link labeled "Guideline Synthesis" located in the Summary Box.

Certain NGC guidelines may be included in more than one Guideline Synthesis. In this case, you are presented with a list of the available syntheses after clicking on the "Guideline Synthesis" link.

A complete list of Guideline Syntheses available on the NGC Web site is accessible from the NGC Home Page.

Guideline Synthesis Template

Full Text

Where possible, the NGC Web site provides links to the full-text guideline, either at the NGC Web site or another location (e.g., guideline developer's Web site). See NGC's How to Access Full-Text Guidelines Web page for more information.

XML View of Complete Guideline Summaries

NGC provides a guideline's Complete Summary in XML format. In order to view a specific summary in the XML view:

XML View

Palm Downloads of Complete Guideline Summaries

NGC provides a guideline's Complete Summary in a text format downloadable to Palm-based Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs). In order to download a specific summary for Palm-based PDA view:

Pocket PC users can directly access the entire site in real time using Pocket IE or as downloaded Web pages. Users may also download all NGC guideline summaries as Microsoft (MS) Word documents (see below).

Palm Download

Word Downloads of Complete Guideline Summaries

NGC provides a guideline's Complete Summary in a Microsoft Word downloadable format.

MS Word Download

Portable Document Format (PDF) Downloads of Complete Guideline Summaries

NGC provides a guideline's Complete Summary in a PDF downloadable format.

PDF Download