Making Use of Guidelines in Clinical Practice; Implementing Clinical Guidelines: A Practical Guide

Making Use of Guidelines in Clinical Practice

Ed Allen Hutchinson, Richard Baker

Radcliffe Medical Press, £18.95, pp 224

ISBN 1 85775 088 8

Implementing Clinical Guidelines: A Practical Guide

Ed Debra Humphris, Peter Littlejohns

Radcliffe Medical Press, £18.95, pp 200

ISBN 1 85775 293 7

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“When examining a patient with gastrointestinal symptoms, if you don't put your finger up [the rectum] you put your foot in it” was the first clinical guideline I was taught as a student in the 1970s.

Since then, I have continued to receive guidelines at an increasing rate Most of these have been sent “cold” and have been variously binned, filed, or acted on. With so much emphasis put on the need for a strong evidence base in guidelines, it is ironic that the commonest method of implementation (unsupported dissemination), according to a recent review by …