The evaluation of clinical guideline's implementation

Clinical guidelines codify the available body of evidence based knowledge and they can affect the quality of care. The development of a reliable clinical guideline does not ensure its implementation as many factors influence the diffusion and willingness of health professionals to adopt it in clinical practice. Objectives of this article are the description of factors which are essential to a guideline implementation by the health professionals to whom is addressed, and the analysis of quality measures that can be used to assess clinical guideline’s effectiveness. Determinant factors for guideline implementation are the accuracy and the way the recommendations are written, the selected dissemination strategies, and the nurses’ characteristics. The appraisal of clinical guideline effectiveness can be done by using specific quality measures that have been selected during the clinical guideline development. The quality measures usually concern the quality dimensions of procedure, the clinical outcome, and how the guideline implementation affects the cost of health care. The successful implementation of a guideline is very important because achieves the diffusion of research results in clinical practice. The proper use of quality measures helps a nurse to realize the importance of guideline development and implementation to the evolution of clinical practice, the improvement of patient’s clinical outcome and the best financial management.