Display Settings:

Format

Send to:

Choose Destination
We are sorry, but NCBI web applications do not support your browser and may not function properly. More information
    Lancet. 1993 Nov 27;342(8883):1317-22.

    Effect of clinical guidelines on medical practice: a systematic review of rigorous evaluations.

    Source

    Department of General Practice, University of Aberdeen, Foresterhill Health Centre, UK.

    Abstract

    Although interest in clinical guidelines has never been greater, uncertainty persists about whether they are effective. The debate has been hampered by the lack of a rigorous overview. We have identified 59 published evaluations of clinical guidelines that met defined criteria for scientific rigour; 24 investigated guidelines for specific clinical conditions, 27 studied preventive care, and 8 looked at guidelines for prescribing or for support services. All but 4 of these studies detected significant improvements in the process of care after the introduction of guidelines and all but 2 of the 11 studies that assessed the outcome of care reported significant improvements. We conclude that explicit guidelines do improve clinical practice, when introduced in the context of rigorous evaluations. However, the size of the improvements in performance varied considerably.

    Comment in

    • ACP J Club. 1994 May-Jun;120 Suppl 3:85.
    PMID:
    7901634
    [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

      Supplemental Content

      Icon for Elsevier Science

      Save items

      Recent activity

      Your browsing activity is empty.

      Activity recording is turned off.

      Turn recording back on

      See more...
      Write to the Help Desk