President’s
COLUMN
In support of APA’s treatment
guidelines efforts
BY DR. SUZANNE BENNETT JOHNSON • APA PRESIDENT
When it comes to treatment guidelines, APA is late to the party, but I am
glad we have finally arrived. Evidence-based guidelines (EBG) have been
around for a long time in the larger health-care arena. In the 1970s, medicine
woke up to the fact that the “art of medicine” or “clinical judgment” did not
necessarily result in positive patient health outcomes. The literature of the
time was replete with examples of physician errors in medical
reasoning and failure to follow the consensus standards of their
own experts. The explosion in the scientific literature made it
impossible for any practicing physician to keep up. Medicine
was shocked to learn that only 15 percent of medical practice
was based on solid clinical research.
1 Eddy, D. Health Affairs 2005: 24: 9–17.
2 IOM. Clinical Practice Guidelines We Can Trust. 2011, http://iom.edu/~/
media/Files/Report%20Files/2011/Clinical-Practice-Guidelines-We-Can-
Trust/Clinical%20Practice%20Guidelines%202011%20Report%20Brief.
pdf
3 APA. American Psychologist 2002: 57: 1052–1059
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