National Guidelines Clearinghouse Publishes CCGPP Documents
The Council on Chiropractic Guidelines and Practice Parameters (CCGPP) is very pleased to announce that the literature syntheses published in JMPT have now been accepted for inclusion in the National Guideline Clearinghouse (NGC) and are available at www.guideline.gov. The NGC is a comprehensive database of evidence-based clinical practice guidelines and related documents. NGC is an initiative of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
This important recognition represents the culmination of a three-year effort by the best and brightest of chiropractic researchers reviewing and analyzing thousands of research articles in an effort to compile the most valid available clinical evidence. The CCGPP Scientific Commission is composed of dozens of doctors of chiropractic from around the United States and Canada and chaired by Dr. Cheryl Hawk. These doctors have donated thousands of hours of their time in this effort and deserve a resounding thank you from each and every doctor of chiropractic in this country. We would also like to recognize the countless number of people who logged in to the CCGPP site and provided valuable stakeholder input. Additionally, Dr. Claire Johnson, editor of JMPT, also deserves special recognition for the extraordinary assistance she provided in guiding CCGPP through the listing process.
“The CCGPP is very excited about the literature syntheses being accepted for inclusion by the National Guideline Clearinghouse”, said Dr. Mark Dehen, CCGPP Immediate Past Chair. “To have the CCGPP’s literature syntheses and treatment recommendations listed is a significant and historic step in our long-term Dissemination, Implementation, Evaluation and Revision (DIER) process. This level of acknowledgment will make these literature syntheses broadly available to all of our stakeholders, better educating them about the chiropractic profession and encouraging collaborative opportunities. More importantly, it will provide another avenue to make this information available to our chiropractic practitioners as they seek to continue to increase the quality of care they provide their patients.
According to the agency’s website, the NGC mission is to provide physicians, nurses, and other health professionals, health care providers, health plans, integrated delivery systems, purchasers and others an accessible mechanism for obtaining objective, detailed information on clinical practice guidelines and to further their dissemination, implementation and use.
The spectrum of evidence utilized ranged from randomized controlled trials to case series and consensus opinion. The draft documents were made available for stakeholder review and comment on the internet in an effort to improve the transparency and promote profession-wide input before these documents were published in a peer reviewed journal.
The chiropractic profession owes a tremendous debt of gratitude to Dr. Cheryl Hawk, current Commission Chair; Low Back Cochairs, Drs. Dana Lawrence and William Meeker; Low Back Consensus Chair, Dr. Gary Globe; Myofascial and Fibromyalgia Cochairs, Drs. Howard Vernon and Michael Schneider; Tendinopathy Chair Dr. Mark Pfefer; Lower Extremity Cochairs Drs. James Brantingham and Gary Globe; as well as all of their teams and research assistants. We also thank our previous Commission Chairs, Drs. Skip Lantz, Jay Triano and Al Adams, as well as our current and former Council members. We also would like to acknowledge our tremendous debt to all of our benefactors, most especially our former Vendor Representative, the late ChiroCode founder, D. Henry Leavitt.