Clinical guidelines

Clinical guidelines aim to make sense of current scientific knowledge to allow clinicians to make the right decisions about diagnosis, treatment and care for people with a medical condition. They're also for consumers to help ensure we're getting the care we deserve. However, health professionals are notoriously bad at following them, which can have a significant impact on the quality and safety of our care. We sit down with Michelle Kosky from the Health Consumers' Council of Western Australia to ask why the guidelines aren't used as much as they should be. From the Tonic series produced with the assistance of NPS. First screened on ABC2 in Australia.

The HealthInsite website is a government-funded gateway to reliable health information; see links to clinical guidelines and reviews of evidence for treatments at http://www.healthinsite.gov.au/topics...
Discussing any information you find with a doctor or other health professional you trust such as a pharmacist or nurse is important. You can access tools that help you find and remember the information you need to talk over at http://www.nps.org.au/bemedicinewise/...