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is Guideline attempts to define principles of practice that should produce high-quality patient care.
It focuses on the needs of primary care practice, but also is applicable to providers at all levels. is
Guideline should not be considered exclusive of other methods of care reasonably directed at obtaining
the same results. e ultimate judgment concerning the propriety of any course of conduct must be
made by the clinician aer consideration of each individual patient situation.
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AAOAOE14052
Abbreviations
AOE, acute otitis externa; RCT, randomized clinical trial
Source
Rosenfeld RM, Schwartz SR, Cannon CR, Roland PS, Simon GR, Kumar KA, Huang WW,
Haskell HW, Robertson PJ. Clinical practice guideline: acute otitis externa. Otolaryngol Head
Neck Surg. 2014;150(1 Suppl):S1-S24. doi: 10.1177/0194599813517083.
Evidence Quality and Recommendation Grades
a
Evidence Quality Recommendation
Treatment and Harm Diagnosis Strength
A High-quality RCTs Systematic review
of consistent cross-
sectional studies
S Strong
recommendation
B Consistent RCTs Consistent individual
cross-sectional studies
R Recommendation
C Observational studies Nonconsecutive studies,
case-control studies, or
other studies of poor
quality
O Option
D Case reports, consensus opinions
X Exceptional situations with clear benefit X
a
See full text guidelines for details.
