Produced in collaboration with METRC and with funding from the Department of Defense

Clinical Practice Guidelines

Clinical practice guidelines (CPG) provide evidence-based recommendations for current orthopaedic diagnostic, treatment, and postoperative procedures. Multidisciplinary clinician work groups and AAOS staff work together to synthesize published research with the aim of providing a transparent and robust summary of the research findings for a particular orthopaedic disease topic.

Appropriate Use Criteria

Appropriate use criteria (AUC) provide treatment recommendations on a patient-specific level using evidence from AAOS clinical practice guidelines, along with clinician expertise and experience. A multidisciplinary clinician writing panel creates realistic patient profiles who may present with a particular orthopaedic disease in a clinical setting. A separate multidisciplinary clinician voting panel uses a modified Delphi method to rate the appropriateness of various procedures for those patient profiles.

Derivative Materials

AAOS encourages use of our guidelines and provides resources to facilitate the implementation of guideline recommendations. To assist with this effort we offer a range of tools to help share information, including PowerPoint presentations, Care Pathways, patient handouts, clinician checklists, plain language summaries, and Impactful Statements – all of which are fully vetted by content experts. Note that these resources are available exclusively to AAOS members and your login is required to access them.

Articles

AAOS journals and news sources often publish additional information about quality programs and guidelines. Note that these resources are available exclusively to AAOS members and your login is required to access them.