LEADING ARTICLE
Guidelines
Getting guidelines to work in practice
1 Paediatric Intensive Care Unit, City General, University Hospital of North Staffordshire, Staffordshire, UK
2 Clinical Education Centre, City General, University Hospital of North Staffordshire, Staffordshire, UK
3 City General, University Hospital of North Staffordshire Trust, Staffordshire, UK
Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr A Spencer
Neonatal Unit, City General, University Hospital of North Staffordshire Trust, Keele University, Newcastle Road, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire ST4 6QG, UK; andy.spencer@uhns.nhs.uk
Accepted 4 September 2006
Creating good guidelines
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
A clinical guideline is a set of instructions that are relevant at the bedside, and assist in decision making. These are not to be confused with protocols that simply state mandatory policies. Usually such protocols are not in a format suitable to assist clinical decision making in acute situations. Evidence-based guidelines are produced by national committees, colleges or expert bodies. These often take the format of a discussion document; they present the rationale behind a recommendation and often include a summary of the available evidence base. They are useful for background reading and in guideline preparation, but not for quick reference at the point of care. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) produces lengthy assessments and summaries that run to several pages. Again, these are helpful in guideline preparation but are far too cumbersome for bedside reference. Position statements are produced by the Royal Colleges, and
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