Development and implementation of practice guidelines (Part 1)

Development and implementation of practice guidelines should be a team effort that includes pharmacists, the medical staff, and hospital administration. Described in this article are the steps involved in developing and successfully implementing practice guidelines. Also briefly presented are some practice guidelines developed by the staff at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center for the use of ondansetron in the post-op setting, colony stimulating factors, and sumatriptan for the treatment of migraine. Finally, discussion of a few practice guidelines that are in the implementation phase and future directions with regard to evolution of practice guidelines are presented.