Evidence-Based Medicine and Practice Guidelines: Application to the Field of Speech-Language Pathology - Academy of Neurologic Communication Disorders and Sciences: Writing Committee for Practice Guidelines in Dysarthria:

Medical speech-language pathology is turning to the tools of evidence-based medicine and practice guidelines as a means of assisting in decision making and improving the quality of services to individuals with neurologic communication disorders. Evidence-based practice is an approach to decision making in which the clinician uses the best evidence available to decide upon the option that best suits their patients. Practice guidelines are explicit statements that assist practitioners and patients to make decisions about appropriate health care for specific clinical conditions. Trends leading to a proliferation of guidelines along with a critical review of their development and application to the field of speech-language pathology are provided. Development of evidence-based practice guidelines for the management of dysarthria is reviewed including descriptions of the writing committee and the panel of experts, development of the questions to be addressed, types of evidence included, and methods for rating the evidence.