Development of clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) an outline exemplified on recent CPG reviews

Background: Exemplified by recent reviews of existing clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) the complexity of a guideline development process is described. Methods: Review of literature on clinical practice guidelines (CPGs). Results: Guidelines are a useful and powerful tool to achieve an increase of quality in healthcare processes. Nevertheless the process of development, implementation and annual actualisation is time consuming and exists only in a few recent CPGs. If the development of CPGs is only the particular interest of single institutions with the aim of reducing costs in healthcare, they can have adverse implications for clinicians, especially if they are rigidly enforced by payers, managers or administration officials. So CPGs should be used as one of a certain number of tools for quality management in clinical practice to improve reproducibility and effectiveness of medical procedures. Conclusions: The central aims of CPGs are to provide evidence-based aid for decision making for healthcare professionals and patients as well. © Springer-Verlag 2006.