BTS 25TH ANNIVERSARY

Developing clinical guidelines

The modern way of developing clinical guidelines

Bernard G Higgins

Correspondence to:
Dr Bernard G Higgins, Freeman Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne NE7 7DN, UK; b.g.higgins@ncl.ac.uk

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Challenges for the next 25 years

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The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The Society can congratulate itself on many things as it celebrates its 25th anniversary, but unquestionably one of the ways in which it has made an impact is as a producer of clinical guidelines. Guidelines are the most frequently visited section of our own website, and the BTS/SIGN asthma guideline¹ has had more hits than any other on the SIGN site.

Some clinicians do not like guidelines, feeling that they are somehow restrictive or that they promote medical laziness. Some feel that they do not need them. What most people would probably agree is that, if we are going to have guidelines, they should be good ones. The criteria for best practice in guideline production have changed considerably since the Society’s earliest work, and at our current milestone it is appropriate to look forward and consider how our high standards should be maintained. There is insufficient space . . . [Full text of this article]

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• Wedzicha, J. A, Johnston, S. L (2008). Thorax update: October 2007-September 2008. Thorax 63: 1036-1037 [Full Text]  
• Barben, J, Kuehni, C E, Trachsel, D, Hammer, J, on behalf of the Swiss Paediatric Respiratory Rese, (2008). Management of acute bronchiolitis: can evidence based guidelines alter clinical practice?. Thorax 63: 1103-1109 [Abstract] [Full Text]