A Clinical Practice Guideline Approach to Treating Depression in Long-term Care

Abstract

The Clinical Practice Guideline (CPG) Project was initiated by the American Medical Directors Association (AMDA) in 1994 to address the need for user-friendly guidelines relevant to long-term care. The project is guided by a multidisciplinary, as well as interdisciplinary, steering committee, with representation from the long-term care field, including: American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (AAHSA), American Health Care Association (AHCA), American Hospital Association (AHA), American Society of Consultant Pharmacists (ASCP), American College of Health Care Administrators (ACHCA), National Association of Directors of Nursing Administration (NADONA), National Conference of Gerontological Nurse Practitioners (NCGNP). To date, 12 guidelines have been published. In 1996, Depression, Heart Failure, Urinary Incontinence, and Pressure Ulcers were developed using a consensus method and Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR) documents as a starting point. The AHCPR has since been renamed the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Then, in 1997, under a joint project conducted by AMDA and AHCA, Guideline Implementation, Pharmacotherapy Companion to the Depression Clinical Practice Guideline, Altered Mental States, Dementia, Falls and Fall Risk, and Osteoporosis were published. In 1998, AMDA resumed autonomous leadership of the CPG Project and, in 1999, published two guidelines—Chronic Pain Management in the Long-term Care Setting and Pressure Ulcer Therapy Companion to the 1996 Pressure Ulcer Clinical Practice Guideline. The mission of this project is to develop CPGs to improve the quality of care delivered to patients across the long-term care continuum. The guiding principles established by the steering committee include: