Common definitions
| Term | Definition |
| Evidence-based medicine (EBM) | The conscientious, explicit and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients.66 |
| Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) | 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.6 |
| Clinical pathway (CPW) | A structured, multidisciplinary care plan (‘inventory of action’) that translates guidelines or evidence into local practices and standardizes care for a specific population.67 |
| Clinical care plan (CCP) | An organized, multidisciplinary day-by-day list of care activities with intermediate outcome-based goals that healthcare providers will undertake to support identified patient problems.5 |
| Clinical decision rule (CDR) | Operationalization of an efficient approach to assessing probabilities for diagnostic, treatment and prognostic decisions and provide a link between published and clinical evidence, best practice and the diagnosis or clinical outcome under consideration.5 |
| Clinical treatment protocol (CTP) | Clinical care activities developed on the basis of guideline-based evidence, and usually found incorporated into clinical pathways and described against a timeline.5 |