The Database of the Catalogue of Clinical Practice Guidelines Published via Internet in the Czech Language - The Current State

Abstract

Since the nineties the publication activity of expert authorities in the field of Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) has increased. During the first decade of the 21st century the Internet has become one of the most important publishing media for CPGs due to the popularity of sharing information in an e l ectronic f orm. Nowadays, approximately 107 Czech expert societies publish about 731 CPGs on the Internet according to previous explorations of web sites of Czech expert medical societies and practical experience with previous operation of the Catalogue of Clinical Practice Guidelines. CPG documents can be used by physicians and other clinical employees in clinical praxis and education, by administrative authorities, by health policy makers or by patients. Information in these documents is also essential in the development of clinical information systems and decision support systems. The database of the Catalogue of Clinical Practice Guidelines takes a survey in the appearance of CPGs on free accessible web sites of expert societies or periodicals guaranteed by expert societies. The database stores bibliographical data, information about the recency and the quality of CPGs and information about the existence of web tools or formal models based on these CPGs. The database contains 562 records of CPGs published by Czech expert medical societies. 212 records are accessible via the web interface of the Catalogue of Clinical Practice Guidelines.