Good intentions getting out of hand – is there a future for health care guidelines?

Abstract

Louise HK Blume,1,2 Nico JHW van Weert,3 Jamiu O Busari,1,4 Diana MJ Delnoij2,5 1Zuyderland Medical Center, Heerlen, 2Tilburg School of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Tranzo, Scientific Centre for Transformation in Care and Welfare, Tilburg University, Tilburg, 3Q! B.V., Nijmegen, 4Department of Educational Development and Research, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, University of Maastricht, Maastricht, 5National Health Care Institute, Zorginstituut Nederland, Diemen, the Netherlands Abstract: To date, the focus of research on guidelines has been directed toward professionals, and hospitals have merely served as the context. Little research has been performed on the dilemmas of guideline adherence in hospitals, as a setting in which multiple professional guidelines have to be implemented simultaneously; also, it is still unclear which clinical guidelines have to be aligned with other external demands, such as rules, regulations, standards, indicators, norms, and so on. Hence, different ways of studying the issue of guideline implementation are called for. Keywords: guideline, implementation, development, standardization, hospital, adherence, compliance, external demands, requirements, regulations

Keywords

• Hospital
• Policy
• Guidelines