( A review of current clinical guidelines...)Getting More Out of Guidelines,Health

A review of current clinical guidelines is needed to make them more user-friendly and effective, according to two studies published in the latest edition of the Medical Journal of Australia.//

In the past decade, evidence-based clinical care has become a major feature of health care, yet evidence shows clinical recommendations are frequently not applied in practice.

Dr Heather Buchan, CEO of the National Institute of Clinical Studies in Melbourne, in an editorial accompanying the studies, says those who develop guidelines should focus more on the needs of the people using those guidelines.

Dr Buchan suggests the use of best practice recommendations could be increased if guidelines are put into easier-to-use formats, their implementation is properly planned and adequately funded, and the medical community improves its knowledge about cost-effective methods of achieving practice change.

In the first of the two studies, Professor Lesley Campbell, Director of the Diabetes Centre, St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney, and colleagues at St Vincent’s Hospital and the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, reviewed the way in which diabetes patients are managed under current guidelines.

They found that incorporating clinical guidelines into routine practice is challenging and that treatment targets are often unrealistic and difficult to meet.

“For many patients, individualised recommendations may be more appropriate,” says Professor Campbell.

“There is significant discord between the evidence-based guideline targets formulated and advocated by physicians, and current treatment outcomes in our own clinical practice.”

A second group of researchers studied the barriers to implementing guidelines for the care of patients with renal impairment, using the example of iron management guidelines.

Ms Michelle Irving, Senior Research Officer at the Children’s Hospital at Westmead, says
'"/>




Page: 1 2
Related medicine news :

1. Heart Surgery Is Getting Safer for the Old
2. Women not Getting Screened Adequately
3. Kids Not Getting Enough Fiber
4. Getting A Suntan The Easy Way
5. Addicted To Getting Tanned?!
6. Smokers Face The Risk Of Getting Diabetes
7. Plump Infants Getting Obese Later In Life In More Cases
8. More Married Women In India Are Getting Infected By HIV
9. Terminally Ill Cancer Patients Are Not Getting Cash Benefits
10. Polluted Water Prevents Men From Getting Married
11. Chances Of Getting Cancer Can Be Reduced By Hysterectomy