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The need to comply with guidelines applied in practice (GAP) in order to improve cardiovascular patient care in
1Cardiology Section, Department of Medicine, UPR School of Medicine, P.O. Box 365067, San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Insights
Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPG) from the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association improve cardiovascular patient care but face implementation gaps. Programs like Guidelines Applied in Practice (GAP) aim to integrate these evidence-based guidelines into daily medical practice.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Medical Education
- Health Policy
Background:
- Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPG) from the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) are evidence-based resources for cardiovascular care.
- Despite high-quality guidelines, a significant gap exists in their integration into routine clinical practice.
Purpose of the Study:
- To inform the medical community about CPGs, particularly those from ACC/AHA.
- To describe the optimal CPG development process.
- To highlight initiatives addressing the implementation gap.
Main Methods:
- The article defines optimal CPGs and describes their selection, writing, and preparation.
- It discusses the ACC/AHA's Guidelines Applied in Practice (GAP) program.
- It outlines two programs developed by the ACC Puerto Rico Chapter for guideline dissemination and implementation.
Main Results:
- There are 19 high-quality ACC/AHA guidelines available for cardiovascular topics.
- Adherence to ACC/AHA guidelines has shown improved outcomes in cardiovascular patient care.
- The ACC/AHA GAP program and the ACC Puerto Rico Chapter's initiatives aim to bridge the gap between guidelines and practice.
Conclusions:
- Evidence-based CPGs are crucial for improving cardiovascular patient outcomes.
- Effective implementation strategies are necessary to ensure guidelines are utilized in everyday practice.
- Targeted programs, such as GAP and those in Puerto Rico, are vital for disseminating and applying CPGs effectively.
Abstract:
The aim of this article is to provide important information to the medical community about Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPG) in general, and particularly those developed by the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association (ACC/AHA). The optimal CPG is defined and the selection, writing and preparation of the guides are succinctly described. Despite counting with 19 high-quality evidence based ACC/AHA guidelines in various important cardiovascular topics and evidence that adherence to them have demonstrated improvement in the outcome of cardiovascular patient care, there is a large gap in the integration of the guidelines to everyday practice. In response to this realty the ACC/AHA developed the program, Guidelines Applied in Practice (GAP) to foster the implementation of the guidelines into clinical practice. As a plea to the application of the principles of evidence-based CPG, The Puerto Rico Chapter of the ACC has developed two programs oriented to disseminate and help physicians put the guidelines into practice. These are: (1) ACC/ AHA guidelines dissemination through traditional continuing medical education programs and (2) Developing in accord to medical advances a GAP (Guidelines Applied in Practice) in Puerto Rico on acute coronary syndromes (ACS-GAP in Puerto Rico), adapting standardized protocols to local conditions.
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