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Günter Ollenschläger

Publications and source records attributed to Günter Ollenschläger.

17 recordsLinked to original sources

[The German Program for Disease Management Guidelines: COPD Guideline 2006. Short review].

In Germany, the first national consensus on evidence-based recommendations for COPD prevention and disease management was reached in spring 2006. After a development period of 9 months, the National Disease Management Guideline COPD was finalized by nominal group process under the authorship of the scientific societies for pneumology (DGP and Atemwegsliga), general internal medicine (DGIM), family medicine (DEGAM), and the Drug Commission of the German Medical Association (AKDAE). The recommendations' main sources are the NICE COPD Guideline 2004, the GOLD Recommendations as well as existing German guidelines and reviews of recent scientific evidence. The article gives an overview on authors, sources, and key recommendations of the German National Disease Management Guideline COPD 2006 (www.copd.versorgungsleitlinien.de).

Algorithms↗

[The German Program for Disease Management Guidelines: CHD Guideline 2006. Short review].

In Germany, the first national consensus on evidence-based recommendations for disease management in patients with chronic coronary heart disease was reached in summer 2006. After a development period of 4 years, the National Disease Management Guideline Chronic Coronary Heart Disease was finalized by nominal group process under the authorship of the scientific associations for cardiac rehabilitation (DGPR), cardiac surgery (DGTHG), cardiology (DGK), general internal medicine (DGIM), family medicine (DEGAM), and the Drug Commission of the German Medical Association (AKDAE). The recommendations' main sources are the ACC/AHA guidelines 2002 updates as well as existing German guidelines and reviews of recent scientific evidence. The article gives an overview on authors, sources, and key recommendations of the German National Disease Management Guideline Chronic Coronary Heart Disease 2006 (www.khk.versorgungsleitlinie.de).

Algorithms↗

[The German program for disease management guidelines. Background, methods, and development process].

The Program for National Disease Management Guidelines (German DM-CPG Program) was established in 2002 by the German Medical Association (umbrella organization of the German Chambers of Physicians) and joined by the Association of the Scientific Medical Societies (AWMF; umbrella organization of more than 150 professional societies) and by the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (NASHIP) in 2003. The program provides a conceptual basis for disease management, focusing on high-priority health-care topics and aiming at the implementation of best practice recommendations for prevention, acute care, rehabilitation and chronic care. It is organized by the German Agency for Quality in Medicine, a founding member of the Guidelines International Network (G-I-N). The main objective of the German DM-CPG Program is to establish consensus of the medical professions on evidence-based key recommendations covering all sectors of health-care provision and facilitating the coordination of care for the individual patient through time and across interfaces. Within the last year, DM-CPGs have been published for asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, type 2 diabetes, and coronary heart disease. In addition, experts from national patient self-help groups have been developing patient guidance based upon the recommendations for health-care providers. The article describes background, methods, and tools of the DM-CPG Program, and is the first of a publication series dealing with innovative recommendations and aspects of the program.

Disease Management↗

[The German Disease Management Guideline Asthma: methods and development process].

The German National Program for Disease Management Guidelines, which is being operated under the auspices of the German Medical Association (GMA), the Association of the Scientific Medical Societies (AWMF) and the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (NASHIP), provides a conceptual basis for the disease management of prioritized healthcare aspects. The main objective of the program is to establish consensus of the medical professions on key recommendations covering all sectors of healthcare provision and facilitating the coordination of care for the individual patient through time and across interfaces. Within the scope of this program, the Scientific Medical Societies concerned with the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of asthma in children, adolescents and adults have reached consensus on the core contents for a National Disease Management Guideline for Asthma. This consensus was reached by applying formal techniques and on the basis of the adaptation of recommendations from existing guidelines with high quality standards in methodology and reporting, and information from evidence reports.

Asthma↗

[National Disease Management Guideline for Asthma: recommendations and evidence for "asthma prevention" issues].

The National Disease Management Program (NDM Program) represents the basic content of structured, cross-sectoral healthcare. In particular, the NDM Program is directed towards coordinating different disciplines and areas of healthcare. The recommendations are developed through interdisciplinary consensus of the scientific medical societies on the basis of the best available evidence. Within this scope the scientific medical societies concerned with the prevention, diagnosis, therapy and rehabilitation of asthma consented upon a National Disease Management Guideline for Asthma in 2005. Among other things, the following cornerstones of asthma prevention were agreed upon: Breastfeeding and non-smoking were suggested as primary prevention measures for (expectant) parents. With respect to secondary prevention, recommendations have been made for allergen avoidance, active/passive smoking and immunotherapy. Regarding tertiary prevention, position statements on vaccination and specific immunotherapy are developed. The present paper presents both the original texts of the recommendations and the evidence underlying them.

Asthma↗

Improving quality of care for depression: the German Action Programme for the implementation of evidence-based guidelines.

ISSUE: Depressive disorders are of great medical and political significance. The potential inherent in achieving better guideline orientation and a better collaboration between different types of care is clear. Throughout the 1990s, educational initiatives were started for implementing guidelines. Evidence-based guidelines on depression have been formulated in many countries. PURPOSE: This article presents an action programme for structural, educational, and research-related measures to implement evidence-based care of depressive disorders in the German health system. The starting points of the programme are the 'Guidelines Critical Appraisal Reports' of the 'Guideline Clearing House' and measures from the 'Competence Network on Depression and Suicidality' (CNDS) funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. The article gives an overview of the steps achieved as recommended by the Guidelines Critical Appraisal Reports and the ongoing transfer process into the German health care system. RESULTS: The action programme shows that comprehensive interventions to develop and introduce evidence-based guidelines for depression can achieve benefits in the care of depression, e.g. in recognition, management, and clinical outcome. CONCLUSION: It was possible to implement the German Action Programme in selected care settings, and initial evaluation results suggest some improvements. The action programme provides preliminary work, materials, and results for developing a future 'Disease Management Programme' (DMP) for depression.

Depressive Disorder↗

[Medical standards and guidelines--definitions and functions].

Clinical practice guidelines are systematically developed statements to assist important professional and patient decisions about appropriate health care for specific circumstances. The main aim of Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPGs) is to promote and support good clinical practice and inform the public about it, while taking into account the resources available. There has always been a body of opinions providing guidance to individual professionals. The novel aspect of evidence-based guidelines is both the systematic way in which they are developed and their explicit nature. CPGs must be developed using state-of-the-art methodology and be critically appraised before implementation is considered, though many use methods that are not robust or of uncertain quality or origin. Such clinical practice guidelines have several primary and secondary functions. They can be employed to support health care decisions and to provide information about cost effectiveness, be referred to in legal proceedings, and they can help to link research, education and practice. All these functions are dependent on each country's societal values and situation. The basic approaches are discussed in more detail according to the recommendations of the Council of Europe published in 2001.

Delivery of Health Care↗

[The German Guideline Clearinghouse on Breast Cancer: the need for frequent updating of breast cancer guidelines requires effective guideline updating procedures].

In order to promote the quality of health care and guidelines in Germany the German Guideline Clearinghouse (Sponsors: German Medical Association, National Association of the Statutory Health Insurance Physicians, German Hospital Federation, Associations of the Sickness Funds and the Statutory Pension Insurance) was established at the Agency for Quality in Medicine (AQuMed) in 1999. The results of the 10th Guideline Clearing Project, the Guideline Clearing Report "Breast Cancer", were published in December 2003. In a systematic search using English/German language guideline databases and literature databases (Medline, Healthstar, Embase), 16 national guidelines were identified which were in accordance to the inclusion criteria (breast cancer treatment; German or English language; published after 1992; new guideline or genuine update (no adaptation); recommended for country-wide implementation). The methodological quality of these 16 guidelines was evaluated using the appraisal instrument of the German Guideline Clearinghouse, the checklist "Methodological Quality of Clinical Practice Guidelines". A peer review of the guidelines was performed by a multidisciplinary focus group of experts (intended guideline users from clinical and ambulatory settings as well as patients). This group consented comments and recommendations for actions of health care policy makers in Germany for a German breast cancer guideline based on examples from the appraised guidelines. None of the identified guidelines contained information about all of the 24 key topics that the focus group considered to be relevant for a German national guideline. The selected exemplary text extracts from the evaluated guidelines can be used as benchmarks and example sources for the development of a national German breast cancer guideline. From the beginning, patients should be involved in the development process within a multidisciplinary team. Due to the rapid emergence of new evidence, oncology guidelines need an effective procedure for updating in order to ensure that they are able to promote health care quality by giving current recommendations based on best available evidence. International networks such as the Guidelines International Network (G-I-N) will be helpful to collect and appraise the evidence for the national guideline development groups in an effective way.

Breast Neoplasms↗

[Quality management in health care: error prevention and managing errors in medicine].

BACKGROUND: About 3.7% of in-house-treated patients in Switzerland, the USA and Australia are victims of treatment-related health problems which probably are related to avoidable "adverse events" in more than 50% of the occurrences. Reasons are primarily systematic incidents, e.g., organizational deficiencies in the health system and only secondarly individual mistakes. As there are no systematic studies available, it is not proven if those figures can be transferred to the German Health Care System. Here, experts anticipate up to 12.000 proven treatment errors per year. PREVENTION OF AND DEALING WITH ADVERSE EVENTS: Dedicated programs for identification and prevention of adverse events should be implemented--besides systematic quality improvement--to improve professional handling and prevention of adverse events. This consists of a) assessment of the existing problem using existing data bases and/or implementation of mandatory documentation and information routines as well as reporting systems, b) development of sanction-free reporting routines within the legal framework, c) dissemination of behavior-oriented training systems for recognition and prevention of adverse events as well as incentives for the participation in such training systems, d) implementation of automatic routines for prevention of adverse events (e.g., computer-based monitoring of ADE or computer-based reminder systems based on clinical guidelines).

Forecasting↗

[Assessment of methodological quality of clinical performance measures].

One of the tasks of the federal "Coordinating Committee" within Germany's self-governing health care system is to develop clinical performance measures. Since these performance measures usually exert an enormous influence on health care delivery their methodological quality should meet highest standards. The aim of our study was to develop quality requirements for clinical performance measures to be used in Germany; we did this mainly by compiling internationally published criteria. We present lists of quality requirements for clinical performance measures and performance assessment programs as well as a checklist for documenting and assessing comprehensively the methodological quality of these measures. Developing clinical performance measures by using these criteria could improve their methodological quality and promote the objectivity of performance assessment in medical care.

Delivery of Health Care↗

[The National Program for disease management--guidelines under the auspices of the German Medical Association--a method report].

In March 2002, the German Medical Association established a National Programme for Disease Management Guidelines (DMG). This programme focuses on the development and implementation of consented key recommendations of German guidelines and evidence-based treatment recommendations for specific prioritized problems of health care issued by various organisations. Among other things, the aim is to ensure (1) that guidelines within a framework of structured care should not assume the character of directives; (2) that the evidence-based principles for structured care programmes be both scientifically accounted for and practicable and consider guidelines that have already proved to work; (3) that a consensus be obtained between the institutions of the medical self-governing bodies, the Association of the Scientific Medical Societies in Germany (AWMF) and the relevant medical societies concerning the identification, updating and implementation of the key topics of structured care programmes: (4) that the outcomes of the German Guideline Clearinghouse be taken into consideration. The methodological foundations of this programme for disease management guidelines are outlined in the following method report.

Germany↗