[Previous experiences with evaluation of practice guidelines].

Abstract

Numerous expectations are associated with the development of guidelines. Referring to the experiences so far it can be stated that despite the large amount of guidelines that have been developed, little attention has been given to dissemination, implementation and evaluation of guidelines. The developed guidelines often do not follow international accepted quality criteria, for example many are not based on scientific evidence or they lack the involvement of all relevant parties. The main problems occur in the process from development to implementation of a guideline. Results from evaluation studies nevertheless show that guidelines can have positive effects on the process and outcome of medical care. More scientifically sound evaluation studies are needed to assess the effects of guidelines. Especially in Germany a lot more needs to be done to improve the quality of guidelines and the amount of evaluation studies.