Clinical guidelines for dentistry: will they be useful?
OBJECTIVE
To review the literature on the development and effectiveness of clinical guidelines.


METHODS
Literature review of relevant publications following a Medline search. Publications that reported studies investigating effectiveness of guidelines were confined to randomised controlled trials.


CONCLUSIONS
If guidelines are to be effective they should be (i) based on high levels of scientific evidence, (ii) developed with input from the dentists who will be using them and (iii) presented in a satisfactory manner. Importantly, the effectiveness of the guidelines should be rigorously evaluated.
McComb
J L
JL
Department of Dental Medicine and Surgery, University Dental Hospital of Manchester.
Wright
J L
JL
O'Brien
K D
KD
D003657:Decision Making; D003729:Dental Care / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration; D003813:Dentistry; D003815:Dentists; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006801:Humans; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic / Q000592:standards; D017064:Process Assessment, Health Care; D016730:Program Development; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D012586:Science