The Institute of Medicine (1990) defined clinical practice guidelines (CPG) as "systematically developed statements to assist practitioner and patient decisions about appropriate health care for specific clinical circumstances” (p. 38). This definition was updated by the IOM in 2011 to "clinical practice guidelines are statements that include recommendations intended to optimize patient care that are informed by a systematic review of evidence and an assessment of the benefits and harms of alternative care options" (p.4).
CPGs support clinical decisions and best practices and can be used to develop clinical performance measures.
According to the John Hopkins EBP Model, clinical practice guidelines are Level IV evidence and are assessed by the Nonresearch Evidence Appraisal Tool (Appendix F) (tool available in the ebook).
Institute of Medicine (US) Committee to Advise the Public Health Service on Clinical Practice Guidelines, Field, M. J., & Lohr, K. N. (Eds.). (1990). Clinical Practice Guidelines: Directions for a New Program. National Academies Press (US).
Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on Standards for Developing Trustworthy Clinical Practice Guidelines, Graham, R., Mancher, M., Miller Wolman, D., Greenfield, S., & Steinberg, E. (Eds.). (2011). Clinical Practice Guidelines We Can Trust. National Academies Press (US).
Dang, D., Dearholt, S., Bissett, K., Ascenzi, J., & Whalen, M. (2022). Johns Hopkins evidence-based practice for nurses and healthcare professionals: Model and guidelines. 4th ed. Sigma Theta Tau International
Finding Clinical Practice Guidelines is different than finding research articles. Here is an instructional video on locating them.