December 2005

CCGPP to release draft guidelines chapter for comment period

The Council on Chiropractic Guidelines and Practice Parameters (CCGPP) is releasing the initial draft of first chapter of its Best Practices Chiropractic Clinical Compass document for review and comment by stakeholders, including the public. The document concerns low-back pain, and its goal is to improve clinical outcomes of patients.

This first best-practices document is the culmination of 10 years of process and two years of effort by nearly 100 chiropractic scientists, field practitioners, vendors, and friends. The best-practices document will provide a chiropractic review of the current literature in an effort to enhance outcomes for our individual patients.

The low-back chapter will be available at www.ccgpp.org for review and comment for 60 days from its initial release. Subsequent chapters will then follow for. The CCGPP encourages any and all interested parties to invest the time to comment on this work.

Each best-practices chapter is being researched and written by a team of chiropractors and scientists after an extensive review of the literature, including materials submitted by stakeholders. This work is an iterative process and the initial scope will focus on the most common disorders and most common clinical approaches used by the doctor of chiropractic.

Articles were (and are) being collected via a number of search vehicles with the help of various chiropractic educational facility librarians, as well as from field practitioners.

Standardized instrument consistent with those recognized by policy makers and the broader health community are used to assess the literature.

The public comment period provides an opportunity for all stakeholders to give their opinions on the work. At the end of the 60-day period, the original teams will review all comments and will include appropriate amendments in the final version.

The complete document will be published in 2007 for distribution throughout the profession and its partners.

According to Mark D. Dehen, DC, CCGPP vice president, “This is not the end of the story. Upon completion of the development process, implementation begins.”

Implementation will entail training the profession and stakeholders in the proper interpretation, translation, and utilization in specific patient encounters.

The final stage of the process, says Dehen, is evaluation. “We expect use of the Best Practices Clinical Chiropractic Compass will improve patient outcomes, forming the basis for the revision process, and the cycle will repeat itself,” he said.

Council on Chiropractic Guidelines and Practice Parameters, www.ccgpp.org

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