The Institutional Clinical Protocols (ICP) of the Hospital das Clínicas of the Medical School of Ribeirão Preto (HCFMRP-USP) are guidelines for the conduction of health care, aiming at guiding and standardizing the multiple decisions involving care in high settings complexity and thus promote quality and ensure patient care. The care protocols are based on recent scientific evidence and scientific excellence, including guidelines from national and international health organizations, tailored for the environment in which they are applied. (Quality Journal HC, ISSN 2526-0162, Online Version, 2018 edition; http://www.hcrp.usp.br/revistaqualidade/uploads/Artigos/217/217.pdf)

The HCFMRP-USP is an autarchy linked to the Health Department of the State of São Paulo, which is a structural hospital and a tertiary reference for Ribeirão Preto and the region, totaling 3.5 million inhabitants within its scope (www.hcrp. usp.br). It leads a health complex that includes three other secondary hospitals, several institutes and centers, and outstanding primary level performance represented by family health centers.

The PCI-HCFMRP-USP was developed through the interaction between its Central Administration and faculty and postdoctoral students of FMRP-USP and is coordinated by the Department of Health Care. They are periodically revised and updated to suit new knowledge and progress and to fit the processes and flows of care of the hospital complex. The various protocols are integrated into a care line, offering comprehensive guidelines that address the various stages of evaluation and treatment of a specific clinical condition.

The availability of these protocols via smartphone application contributes to its wide diffusion and encourages its consultation in real time, that is, during the service. The user registry allows evaluating the scope of its protocols, in addition to enabling communication between users and developers. This way, users can send comments about the protocols or request the development of a specific protocol. The list of registered users may be used by the institution to disseminate other pertinent information according to the user's interest, which will declare their preferences at the time of registration.