Case report
Clinical Guidelines Development and Usage: A Critical Insight and Literature Review: Thyroid Disease Diagnostic Algorithms
Jure Murgić
Daniela Salopek
Marin Prpić
Tomislav Jukić
Zvonko Kusić
Abstract
Clinical guidelines have been increasingly used in medicine. They represent a system of recommendations for the conduction
of specific procedures used in fields from public health to different diagnostic and therapeutic procedures in clinical
medicine. Guidelines are designed to facilitate to medical practitioners the adoption, evaluation and application of
an increasing body of evidence and arising number of expert opinions regarding the presently best treatment and to help
in delivering proper decision for the management of a patient or condition. Clinical guidelines represent a part of complementar
activity by which research is implemented into praxis, standards are defined and clinical excelence is promoted
in all health care fields. There are specific conditions which quality guidelines should meet. First of all, they need
to be founded on comprehensive literature review, apart from clinical studies and trials in the target field. Also, there are
more systems for analyzing and grading the strenght of clinical evidence and the level of recommendation emerging
from it. Algorithms are used to organize and summarize guidelines. The algorithm itself has a form of an informatic record
and a logical flow. Algorithms, especially in case of clinical uncertainty, must be used for the improvement of health
care, increasing it’s availability and integration of the newest scientific knowledge. They should have an important role
in the health care rationalisation, fight against non-rational diagnostics manifested as diagnostic procedures with no
clinical indications, it’s unnecesary repetition and wrong sequence. Several diagnostic algorithms used in the field of
thyroid diseases are presented, since they have been prooved to be of great use.
Keywords
clinical guidelines; algorithms; thyroid disease; diagnostics; evidence-based medicine
Hrčak ID:
34444
URI
Publication date:
1.12.2008.
Visits: 1.396 *