CPG has a lot of advantages, but it clearly has disadvantages as well. CPGs that were made by the government or payer to control the cost might be effective as a public policy, but it might seriously infringe on autonomy of clinicians and patients. CPGs that were made by specialist organizations might have a self-serving bias and might not be helpful to clinicians on general practice. CPGs that were made with firm rules without flexibility might transform a very sophisticated and inhomogeneous medicine to cookbook medicine. A critical understanding of the advantages and limitations of CPG will prevent poor decisions to cause harm on the patients, clinicians, and healthcare system. The most important thing would be to gather more high-quality evidence from the RWE or to enhance RCT with RWD. It is necessary to develop a support system for decision making after considering all conditions at an individual level rather than a population level. Medical practice in real world needs to become science and art based on CPGs and RWE.

Not applicable to this chapter.