Access this site for clinical guidelines
How would you like to have dozens of guidelines for chief complaints and conditions at your fingertips? The Primary Care Clinical Practice Guidelines Web site contains current recommendations for dozens of conditions, including asthma, acute myocardial infarction, and stroke.
The Web site was started in 1997 by Peter Sam, MD, assistant clinical professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at University of California at Los Angeles. "I got tired of looking for my hard copy of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s STD guidelines, the Sixth Report of the Joint National Committee on the Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure, and other paper copies of guidelines," he recalls. "I found that these guidelines were on the Wide World Web, and began adding them to my bookmarks."
When Sam came across more clinical guidelines, he decided to organize them on an internal Web page. "I first put them on a free personal Web page server, and later I added them to my personal pages at my facility," he says. "They are now posted on our Department of Medicine’s Web site, where users can search for the guidelines they need."
Although the site’s name indicates use by primary care providers, the guidelines apply to all providers, including ED clinicians, says Sam. The site addresses the clinician’s need for quick access to clinical resources. "I also designed for accessibility regardless of the browser used and included a links listing," he notes. The guidelines are classified according to the ICD-9-CM codes.
As a community health center family physician serving indigent immigrants in Oakland’s Chinatown, Sam added cross-cultural health links including some multilingual patient education sites. "I added a short list of patient information available on the Internet that I use personally, and tips for how patients can evaluate a Web site for reliable health information."
For more information about the Web site, contact:
• Peter Sam, MD, Asian Health Services, 818 Webster St., Oakland CA 94607-4220. Telephone: (510) 986-6800. Fax: (510) 986-6896. E-mail: [email protected].
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