National Guideline Clearinghouse

How do I search the NGC for guidelines based on good medical evidence?

Because the guidelines archived by the NGC are of varying quality, the NGC site can be searched is such a way to only find guidelines produced with good evidence based principles by using the “Detailed Search” tool (see right). This can be found on the left hand side, just below the main search box.

Clicking “Detailed Search” brings up a search page with a large number of filtering options, many of which can be useful for narrowing your search. Your search terms can be entered in the box at the top of the page.

To search only for evidence-based guidelines, scroll about halfway down the page to the box marked “Methods Used to Assess the Quality and Strength of the Evidence” and select “Weighting According to a Rating Scheme (Scheme Given)”. This will limit the search to guidelines that explicitly describe the quality of the evidence used to produce the guideline, which is key to any independent evaluation of the guideline.

Page last updated: August 27, 2007 Questions or suggestions? Contact Chris Hooper-Lane