E-DRUG: Information on clinical guidelines
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Dear e-drug Colleagues:
We are in the process of preparing a report for the WHO on 'Priority Medical Devices for Europe and the World'. As part of this, we are reviewing clinical guidelines for various high burden diseases (e.g., diabetes, HIV AIDS, ischaemic heart disease and the like) and are extracting the procedures and devices mentioned in the guidelines.
It occurred to us that we do not really know the reasons why people write clinical guidelines in the first place.
We would like to get answers to these general questions:
* What is the main impetus to write a clinical guideline (e.g. is it perceived need or actual need or something else?)
* Who typically takes the initiative in creating clinical guidelines?
* What might be the barriers to creating a given clinical guideline? (e.g., lack of financial and human resources? Lack of interest from key stakeholders?)
Although we appreciate that that e-drug may not be the most appropriate forum for our request relating to medical devices, we think that perhaps those familiar with therapeutics can give us valuable insights into these questions nevertheless. If you have personal experiences with such questions, we would like your responses.
Further, if you feel you want to respond directly to us, please do so at one of the following e mail addresses:
Josee Hansen: hansenj@who.int
Warren Kaplan: wak@bu.edu
Fredereik Swart: swartf@who.int
Sent by:
Warren Kaplan, PhD, JD, MPH
Center for International Health & Development
Boston University School of Public Health
Boston, MA 02118
617.414.1152