BMJ  2003;326:1088 (17 May), doi:10.1136/bmj.326.7398.1088

Letter

Computerised evidence based guidelines in primary care

Authors' reply

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—The enduring message from researching methods to promote the uptake of research findings is that no one strategy that will work for all individuals, settings and behaviours,¹ yet this is what both Prince and Lipman imply.

It is understandable that Prince promotes a locally developed computerised decision support system addressing local needs and priorities, particularly as he and his team seem highly motivated both to use it and to carry out the actions that it recommends. Unfortunately, it is unproved whether their solution will work for others' problems. There is a greater challenge in constructing and evaluating a computerised decision support system that will work across a range of computer systems, individuals, settings, and behaviours. We feel that our paper provides important messages for those developing future computerised decision support systems.

Although we support what Lipman says about on-demand information, we think that increasing information technology and evidence . . . [Full text of this article]

martin.eccles@ncl.ac.uk

Centre for Health Services Research, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4AA

Department of Sociology, University of Northumbria, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8ST

Health Services Research Unit, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB25 2ZD

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