BACKGROUND It is widely believed that providing doctors with guidelines will lead to more effective clinical practice and better patient care. However, different studies have shown contradictory results in quality improvement as a result of guideline implementation. The aim of this study was to compare family doctors' knowledge and self-reported care of type 2 diabetes patients with recommendat...

BACKGROUND Implementation of guidelines in clinical practice is difficult. In 2003, the German College of General Practitioners and Family Physicians (DEGAM) released an evidence-based guideline for the management of low back pain (LBP) in primary care. The objective of this study is to explore the acceptance of guideline content and perceived barriers to implementation. METHODS Seventy-two g...

This evidence-based clinical practice guideline provides recommendations to primary care clinicians for the management of children from 2 months through 12 years of age with uncomplicated acute otitis media (AOM). The American Academy of Pediatrics and American Academy of Family Physicians convened a committee composed of primary care physicians and experts in the fields of otolaryngology, epid...

BACKGROUND The treatment of head-and-neck cancer is complex and requires the involvement of various health care professionals with a wide range of expertise. We describe the process of developing a practice guideline with recommendations about the organization and delivery of health care services for head-and-neck cancer patients in Alberta. METHODS Outcomes of interest included composition o...

Originally published in November 2000. This guideline is more than 5 years old and has not yet been updated to ensure that it reflects current knowledge and practice. In accordance with national standards, including those of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s National Guideline Clearinghouse (http://www.guideline.gov/), this guideline can no longer be assumed to be current. The Ap...

Implementation of practice guidelines is a beguilingly complex activity that requires attention to the task of clinicians, the constraints they face, and the social practice of medicine. Local clinical opinion leaders can accelerate the pace of change by encouraging early adoption and modeling new practices. "Tough love" approaches to guideline adoption have a role in raising the salience of th...

The growing influence of practice guidelines has increased concern for potential sources of bias. Two recent guidelines for primary immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) provided a unique opportunity for a systematic comparison of different methods of practice guideline development. One guideline (International Consensus Report [ICR]) was supported by pharmaceutical companies that produce products for ...

OBJECTIVES Practice nurses in general practices suboptimally adhere to smoking cessation guidelines. Since the effectiveness of their smoking cessation support is greatest when full adherence to these guidelines is achieved, interventions need to be developed to improve practice nurses' guideline adherence, for example, by tailoring their content to adherence determinants. However, the sociocog...