Clinical Practice Guidelines and Protocols in British Columbia

New! Download all guidelines and summaries here! (ZIP 12M)

Clinicians in Canada and other countries increasingly use practice guidelines and protocols to improve patient care and health outcomes. Guidelines and protocols help practitioners offer the best possible care for their patients by providing recommendations based on scientific evidence and expert clinical opinion.

In B.C., guidelines and protocols are developed under the direction of the Guidelines and Protocols Advisory Committee (GPAC), jointly sponsored by the B.C. Medical Association and the Ministry of Health Services.

NOTICE BOARD

The following new guideline has been added to the BCGuidelines.ca web site:

A new Stroke and Transient Ischemic Attack – Management and Prevention guideline has been published, with an effective date of April 29 2009.

Note: A project is underway to make these PDA guidelines available on BlackBerry and iPhone devices. Target completion date for the implementation in Blackberry format is late September 2009. iPhone format is anticipated early next year.

The following revised guidelines were been updated on the BCGuidelines.ca web site in March and April of this year:

The Hematuria–Microscopic Hematuria (Persistent) guideline has been updated, with an effective date of April 22, 2009
The Macroscopic and Microscopic Urinalysis and Investigation of Urinary Tract Infections guideline has been updated, with an effective date of April 22, 2009
A new Infectious Diarrhea - Guideline for Ordering Stool Specimens guideline has been developed, replacing the Ova and Parasite Testing and the Suspected Infectious Diarrhea guidelines which have been deleted. The effective date of the new guideline is March 16, 2009

Other updates to the web site include:

All 50 guidelines including summaries are now available for download to a flash drive or your computer hard drive. Click here (ZIP 12M) to start the download process
A new link has also been created with a list of all guidelines currently available in PDA format

Note: A project is underway to make these PDA guidelines available first on BlackBerry and later on iPhone devices.

Related Links has been updated with new information on Immunization for Health Professionals found on the www.immunizebc.ca BC Centre for Disease Control web site

GPAC intends its guidelines to provide practical and easy-to-follow advice to practitioners for effective patient care. The guidelines are based on scientific evidence, and are modified for circumstances in B.C. GPAC aims to:

Encourage appropriate responses to common medical situations
Recommend actions that are sufficient and efficient, neither excessive nor deficient
Permit exceptions when justified by clinical circumstances

Disclaimer

The Clinical Practice Guidelines (the "Guidelines") have been developed by the Guidelines and Protocols Advisory Committee on behalf of the Medical Services Commission. The Guidelines are intended to give an understanding of a clinical problem, and outline one or more preferred approaches to the investigation and management of the problem. The Guidelines are not intended as a substitute for the advice or professional judgment of a health care professional, nor are they intended to be the only approach to the management of clinical problems.

PDF Format

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Last Revised: September 30, 2009