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Clinical Practice Evaluation Committee
poster standards and clinical guidelines

Since its inception, the BGS Clinical Practice Evaluation Committee (CPEC) has been active in developing clinical guidelines and promoting clinical effectiveness as part of the BGS scientific programme.

The Committee was actively involved in the development of two guidelines which are now complete and will be published and made available through the Royal College of Physicians, namely the “Guidance for the use of anti-depressants in adults undergoing recovery or rehabilitation following acquired brain injury” and “Guidelines for the prevention, diagnosis and management of delirium in older people in hospital”. The Anti-depressants following acquired brain injury guidelines were published in the May/June 2005 issue of Clinical Medicine and the RCP (London) negotiated with Pfizer who bought the guideline booklets for distribution.

Clinical Practice Evaluation Committee
NATIONAL GUIDELINE DEVELOPMENT

Interested parties are requested to send proposals for National Guidelines in the field of Geriatric Medicine to CPEC. Support for development of these guidelines may be made available from the Society to suitable applicants to assist in their development.

Guideline proposals will be discussed by CPEC at their next meeting.

Outline proposals (not more than 4 sides of A4) are requested. They should be sent to Mrs Joanna Gough:
Tel: 0207 608 1369 or Email the Abstracts Manager

Informal enquiries are welcomed by Dr Ron MacWalter, Chairman of CPEC, Telephone 01382 633883.

Closing date for applications 31 May 2006

The Committee is currently working on “Pain Guidelines : the assessment of pain in older people in hospital and community settings”, and is collaborating with the American Geriatrics Society on a review of the prevention and treatment of falls guideline. CPEC is canvassing the membership for further guidelines relevant to geriatric medicine practice for which there might be a perceived need, as well as expressions of interest for experts to work on the development of these guidelines (see advert on this page).

CPEC is also promoting national audits. It is hoped to recycle the National Audit on Steroid-induced Osteoporosis. Audits on Renal Disease and Atrial Fibrillation among elderly patients are being developed. We are determined to see the Society champion relevant national audits.

The Committee is keen to be involved in the development of Revalidation for our specialist members. Other societies had developed models for this and these are being studied and considered.

“Sub-standard” posters
CPEC is encouraged by the large and growing number of submissions to the clinical effectiveness section of the BGS Scientific Meetings. It has noted the criticism regarding the “poor” standard of posters and abstracts submitted for the Autumn 2005 meeting and is addressing this through a more rigorous selection process. As a result, only 32 posters were selected from a total of 78 received for the Spring 2006 meeting in Gateshead. CPEC is pleased that Prof John Gladman (Age & Ageing Abstracts Supplements editor) will accept suitable abstracts for publication in the abstracts supplement and the Committee will also be selecting interesting audits for publication in this Newsletter.

CPEC will continue to develop the format of the poster presentations. Proposed categories for future meetings are: Audit, Benchmarking, Guideline Development, Practice Development, and Systematic Review although CPEC would also like to see closer linking between Research and CPEC posters in different categories (e.g. cardiovascular, respiratory, dementia, stroke, parkinsonism, etc).

Ron MacWalter
Chairman, CPEC