A view from the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research: the use of language in clinical practice guidelines

K Hastings

doi:10.1016/s1070-3241(16)30018-9

A view from the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research: the use of language in clinical practice guidelines

Jt Comm J Qual Improv. 1993 Aug;19(8):335-41. doi: 10.1016/s1070-3241(16)30018-9.

Author

K Hastings¹

Affiliation

¹ Legal Medicine Program, Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, Rockville, Maryland.

PMID: 8220815
DOI: 10.1016/s1070-3241(16)30018-9

Abstract

"Good medicine is good law" is the first principle for writing good guidelines. The most important legal inquiry will be whether the language specifies mandatory or persuasive actions. Ordinary words may be hazardous when they are used ambiguously and create more than one meaning. That may mean a jury will decide what was meant.

MeSH terms

Defensive Medicine / legislation & jurisprudence
Health Policy / legislation & jurisprudence*
Health Services Research / legislation & jurisprudence*
Humans
Malpractice / legislation & jurisprudence
Practice Guidelines as Topic*
Psycholinguistics
Quality Assurance, Health Care / legislation & jurisprudence*
Semantics
United States