Journal Club: How Physicians Can Use the New AD Guidelines in Practice

Peter Lio, MD:
Now, as one of the key architects of this document, in your mind, what is the vision for how a specialist or maybe even more of a general practitioner, how might they use these guidelines in 2024? What do you imagine the workflow is and how might they be able to mine them to maximize their use?

Derek Chu, MD:
I'd use the guidelines. I think there's a number of different ways. There's something to be said, of course, for setting down the guideline document that Justin had to be, as many of us would, that textbook studying for an exam type scenario. But I think there's also something to be said about digestible units being used either at point of care or immediately after so that you can refresh or think about what to do next when you encounter that. And that's why we've tried as much as possible to create these digestible units for years. Number one, there is the summary infographic. That's a vector image. You could print that out as a poster, as just a discussion piece or something to point it on the wall when you're talking to a patient. That can be a handout or it can be part of a handout that you give to a patient. There are digestible units for each recommendation so that you can quickly go to the unit each time if you need to have a conversation about that specific issue.

And there's these summary tables that, again, you can use as a vector image, print it out on the wall or on your computer, your desktop, as a conversation piece in the moment to say, "Hey look, these are your options. This study has looked at every single possible option available and these are the best ones. And of these best ones, this is how they all fall out. What is it, what's important to you and how can I help you achieve that?" And then, beyond that, that's why we also have, in the appendix, these one to two page handouts. Again, you can print them double-sided, single page as discussion pieces or something that they come to consider about what are the practical implications of each therapy. What do I need to think about drug interactions? What do I need to think about monitoring? What do I need to think about can I travel with it, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. What is the bleach bath recipe, and so on and so forth.

And so, in each one of these components they are supposed to facilitate, make it easier for people to use, not only as one single, big textbook resource but also as that digestible unit that can be used at point of care or shared decision or immediately after to refresh and think, what am I going to do for the next patient?

Peter Lio, MD:
Amazing. Practical, up-to-date, and really something designed to be utilized, not just to coach somebody what to do but really to be part of that living discussion, the shared decision making. I think that's part of what makes it timeless, it's really designed to be something we can work on and continue to grow and add to. Well, Dr. Chu, I want to thank you again for your participation in this journal club. To our listeners and watchers, please be on the lookout for additional videos in this series with other esteemed expert practitioners, researchers, and educators. Thank you so much.