Peer Review

Clinical Practice Guidelines

Material Detail page

Reviewed:: Jul 27, 2013 by Health Sciences

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Ratings

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:

From the Royal Children's Hospital of Melbourne, Australia, this tool provides treatment recommendations for ailments affecting children. "They detail the initial assessment and management of many common (and some rare but important) conditions that present to doctors who see acutely unwell and injured children." The user may search the site by alphabetized title or category.

Type of Material:

Collection of treatment guidelines/reference materials

Recommended Uses:

This tool is quick reference recommended for health care professionals who work with children. Please note, as stated on the site "The emergency paediatric guidelines presented on this site were developed by RCH clinicians primarily for use within the inpatient wards and emergency department of the Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne."

Technical Requirements:

The user will need a computer with Internet access and a web browser. Pages loaded quickly and links to related guidelines worked. Relevant links to other reference materials were included although links to RCH specific materials such as policies are only available via login.

Identify Major Learning Goals:

Upon review of the site the healthcare professional will be able to identify the following information on a given pediatric condition at Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne, Australia:

Background information
Assessment findings
Medical or surgical management
Special discharge considerations

Target Student Population:

The target student populations for this tool are students in medicine, nursing, and allied health who will work with children.

Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:

Pre-requisite knowledge includes intermediate to advanced knowledge of medical terminology, anatomy and physiology, pharmacology, microbiology, nutrition associated with children, as well as general health care practices.

Content Quality

Rating:
Strengths:: Information comes from credible professionals in pediatric care. "These Paediatric Clinical Practice Guidelines were produced by staff of The Departments of General & Emergency Medicine" of the Royal Children's Hospital.
Concerns:: Users not affiliated with the Royal Children's Hospital may be advised to consult guidelines and information from various other sources for treatment information. As stated on the site, "The recommendations contained in these guidelines do not indicate an exclusive course of action, or serve as a standard of medical care." Users in the United States may wish to also consult the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's National Guideline Clearinghouse (http://www.guideline.gov).

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:
Strengths:: Concise reference format that provides comparative pediatric treatment recommendations.
Concerns:: The limited number of ailments covered coupled with a degree of country-specific word choice may prove prohibitive to some users, especially students and individuals unfamiliar with pediatric general practice health care.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:
Strengths:: This tool is very navigable. Topics are arranged alphabetically while the drop down menus used throughout the site make locating information fast. Information sources and last update dates are included.
Concerns:: None

Other Issues and Comments:: Users need to recognize that this resource addresses a pediatric hospital in Melbourne, Australia. Treatment guidelines might have some differences according to locality and country.
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