The good news today is that there are more ways than ever to access medical information. Increasingly, however, we want information at our fingertips available at a moment's notice. Whether rounding in the hospital or seeing patients in clinic, how often have you found yourself asking an important clinical question with uncertainty about the answer? Maybe you found what you needed easily. I have heard from many of you though, "Why doesn't the ACC make it easier to find what I need?"
Just this week in clinic alone, I faced three questions for which I wasn't 100% sure that I had the right answer.
* What is the INR goal for a patient with a mechanical bi-leaflet aortic valve prosthesis and atrial fibrillation?
* At what left ventricular internal dimension should an asymptomatic patient with severe aortic regurgitation be referred for valve replacement?
* What's the criteria that's used to define patients with clinical ASCVD as being very high-risk?
The honest reality is that it's not practical to go looking for answers by scrolling through guidelines that can run 100+ pages in length. As such, it should come as no surprise that the ACC has identified "generation of actionable knowledge" as one of its key strategic priorities. This concept places emphasis on making clinical information easier to consume, share, integrate and update.
While this will take time, I wanted to share with you some ways in which the ACC is trying to make it easier to find what you need now.
Guideline Hubs
Going back to 2008, every guideline released by the ACC has an associated Hub - its own landing page on
www.ACC.org where all related materials/resources are housed. It's a one-stop shop for everything you need related to that Guideline.
How do I find the Hubs?
1. Go to
www.ACC.org and click on the "Guidelines" link in the right upper corner.
2. On the Guidelines landing page, you'll find all of the Guidelines (along with all other clinical policy) listed in reverse chronological order. Under each Guideline is a link to the JACC page, the PDF, and the Hub.
3.Within each Hub are a number of useful resources/links: Quick Reference, Slides, Perspectives, Education, Apps and Tools and Patient Resources.
I encourage you to see what's there-I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.
