title: Clinical guidelines: quality and implementation.
abstract: So far 60 evidence-based clinical guidelines have been developed in Finland. These are no binding rules, but they require interpretation for specific patients, and patient preferences are to be observed. For high-quality guidelines, surrogate markers must be avoided, evidence must be systematically searched for and presented, and local context has to be taken into account. The AGREE (Appraisal of Guideline Research & Evaluation) instrument for evaluation of guidelines is presented. Research on implementation and continuous evaluation of guideline effects are needed.
authors.affiliation: Finnish Office for Health Technology Assessment, National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health, Helsinki, Finland. marjukka.makela@stakes.fi
authors.forename: Marjukka
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mäkelä
mesh_terms: D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D010820:Physicians / Q000592:standards; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic / Q000592:standards*; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D012106:Research / Q000592:standards