The need to comply with guidelines applied in practice (GAP) in order to improve cardiovascular patient care in Puerto Rico
Ortega Gil, J.
Boletin de la Asociacion Medica de Puerto Rico 98(2): 97-105
2006
ISSN/ISBN: 0004-4849 PMID: 19606797 Document Number: 601468
The aim of this article is to provide important information to the medical community about Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPG) in general, and particularly those developed by the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association (ACC/AHA). The optimal CPG is defined and the selection, writing and preparation of the guides are succinctly described. Despite counting with 19 high-quality evidence based ACC/AHA guidelines in various important cardiovascular topics and evidence that adherence to them have demonstrated improvement in the outcome of cardiovascular patient care, there is a large gap in the integration of the guidelines to everyday practice. In response to this realty the ACC/AHA developed the program, Guidelines Applied in Practice (GAP) to foster the implementation of the guidelines into clinical practice. As a plea to the application of the principles of evidence-based CPG, The Puerto Rico Chapter of the ACC has developed two programs oriented to disseminate and help physicians put the guidelines into practice. These are: (1) ACC/ AHA guidelines dissemination through traditional continuing medical education programs and (2) Developing in accord to medical advances a GAP (Guidelines Applied in Practice) in Puerto Rico on acute coronary syndromes (ACS-GAP in Puerto Rico), adapting standardized protocols to local conditions.
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