Stroke: Clinical Guidelines

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Introduction

According to Woolf et al (2012) Clinical Guidelines have become one of the foundation of efforts to improve healthcare and health care management. Methods of guideline development have progressed both in terms of methods and necessary procedures and the context for guideline development has changed with the emergence of guideline clearinghouses and large scale guideline production organisations e.g National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence. Clinical guidelines provide recommendations on how healthcare professionals should care for people with specific conditions. They can cover any aspect of a condition and may include recommendations about providing information and advice, prevention, diagnosis, treatment and longer-term management.

Clinical guidelines aim to help health professionals and patients make the best decisions about treatment or care for a particular condition or situation. The guidelines are typically written in statement form by a reputable organization. The authors of guidelines review the research literature and take advice from experts to gather the current evidence on which to base the recomendations in a guideline. Doctors, nurses and other health care professionals are encouraged to follow clinical guidelines where appropriate.

Note : not every patient or situation fits neatly into a guideline. A guideline may not cover every eventuality and each patient's circumstance needs to be taken into consideration when a treatment is decided upon. Some doctors are critical of guidelines that may be too restrictive in their recommendations. Some guidelines are controversial. For a fuller discussion on the pros and cons of guidelines, see the folowing series of articles written in the British Medical Journal.

• Woolf SH, Grol R, Hutchinson A, Eccles M, Grimshaw J. Potential benefits, limitations, and harms of clinical guidelines. British Medical Journal. 1999 Feb 20;318(7182):527.
• Shekelle PG, Woolf SH, Eccles M, Grimshaw J. Developing guidelines. BMJ: British Medical Journal. 1999 Feb 27;318(7183):593.
• Hurwitz B. Legal and political considerations of clinical practice guidelines. BMJ: British Medical Journal. 1999 Mar 6;318(7184):661.
• Feder G, Eccles M, Grol R, Griffiths C, Grimshaw J. Using Clinical Guidelines. British Medical Journal. 1999 Mar 13;318(7185):728.
• Jackson R, Feder G. Guidelines for Clinical Guidelines: A Simple, Pragmatic Strategy for Guideline Development. British Medical Journal. 1998 Aug 15;317(7156):427-9.

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Secondary Prevention

Rehabilitation

Long Term

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References

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