“The AHA/ACC clinical practice guidelines are generally recognized as the flagship of U.S. cardiovascular medicine, but they’re like a library of old books. Clinically valuable knowledge is buried within documents that can be 200 pages long. What we need at the point of care is the gist: concise, relevant bytes of information that answer a specific clinical question, synthesized by experts,” Dr. Nishimura said.
The new approach is designed to counter the information overload that plagues contemporary medical practice. Each recommendation in the current valvular heart disease guidelines addresses a specific clinical question via a brief summary statement followed by a short explanatory paragraph, with accompanying references for those who seek additional details. This new format is designed to lead AHA/ACC clinical practice guidelines into the electronic information management future.
“In the future, you’ll go to your iPad or iPhone or whatever, type in search terms such as ‘anticoagulation for mechanical valves during pregnancy,’ and it will take you straight to the relevant knowledge byte. You can then click on ‘more’ and find out more and get to the supporting evidence tables. The knowledge chunks will be stored in a centralized knowledge management system. The nice thing about this is that it will be a living document that can easily be updated, instead of having to wait 8 years for a new version,” Dr. Nishimura explained.
He reported having no financial conflicts of interest.