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Clinical practice guidelines (and related clinical pathways) seek to capture "best practices" related to particular symptoms or treatments. They are particularly important in an area such as pain management where, arguably, professional medical practice has been slow to develop.
JCAHO Press Release, AMA, JCAHO AND NCQA To Focus on Measuring Effectiveness of Appropriate Pain Management, December 18, 2001 [HTML]

Practice guidelines are increasingly viewed as important in malpractice litigation.
See generally UCSF, Department of Medicine Resources, Primary Care Clinical Practice Guidelines, Introduction [HTML]

Guidelines and their impact on undermedicating pain.

The development and proliferation of clinical practice guidelines has speeded the process by which good evidence-based medical practice becomes recognized and disseminated as such…

The development of practice standards and guidelines by national medical organizations has accelerated the process of moving all medical practice toward national standards. Such guidelines provide a particularized source of standards against which to judge the conduct of the defendant physician, and the fact that they are produced by national medical specialty societies and the government means that they will be influential.

…A clinical standard may be presumptive evidence of due care if expert testimony introduces the standard and establishes its sources and its relevancy. The guidelines can also be used to impeach the opinion of a medical expert. Clinical guidelines potentially offer an authoritative and settled statement of what the standard of care should be for a given treatment or illness…

Barry R. Furrow, Pain Management and Provider Liability: No More Excuses, 29(1) J. LAW, MED. & ETHICS 28, 32 [PDF] (citations omitted)

Collections/Gateways for Practice Guidelines
AHRQ, Clinical Practice Guidelines Online [HTML]
National Guideline Clearinghouse [HTML]
UCSF, Department of Medicine Resources, Primary Care Clinical Practice Guidelines [HTML]
See generally JCAHO Press Release, AMA, JCAHO AND NCQA To Focus on Measuring Effectiveness of Appropriate Pain Management, December 18, 2001 [HTML]

Collections/Gateways for Pain Management Guidelines
AAPM&R, Clinical Pathways Tables [HTML]
Cancer Pain Assessment and Treatment Curriculum Guidelines, 10 J. CLINICAL ONCOLOGY 1976 (1992). [HTML]

• Summary: This article lists cancer pain guidelines developed by the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s Ad Hoc Committee on Cancer Pain. The guidelines delineate pain assessment requirements as well as specific pharmacological approaches to treating pain.

Medscape, Pain Management [HTML]

Examples of Practice Guidelines Impacting Pain Management
AHCPR, Clinical Practice Guideline: Management of Cancer Pain [HTML]
American Pain Society, TALARIA, The Hypermedia Assistant for Cancer Pain Management[HTML]
American Society of Anesthesiologists, Practice Guidelines for Chronic Pain Management[HTML]
American Society of Anesthesiologists, Practice Guidelines for Cancer Pain Management [HTML]
Cancer Control Journal, Management of Bone Pain Secondary to Metastatic Disease [HTML]