The making of clinical procedures – meaningless diversity?
Report
|Updated
A survey consisting of 25 questions about the extent, quality and coordination of clinical procedures among 30 Norwegian Health Trusts.
Background
High-quality clinical procedures and guidelines should support health professionals and contribute to high quality care and reduce practice variation. Methods and quality, as well as coordination and transparency of work concerning electronic, clinical procedures in Norwegian Health Trusts, is questioned.
Materials and methods
We conducted a survey consisting of 25 questions about the extent, quality and coordination of clinical procedures among 30 Norwegian Health Trusts.
Results
29 Health Trusts replied and the results showed that at least 4700 employees in the Trusts are involved in the development and maintenance of clinical procedures each year. The total number of clinical procedures is more than 45 000. Most health trusts do not collaborate or coordinate their work with others. Two Health Trusts publish their procedures on the internet and almost half do not systematically undertake a quality assessment of their procedures.
Discussion
A lot of duplication of work is probably done in the development and updating of clinical procedures in Norwegian Health Trusts. The procedures are normally not shared among Trusts or among the general population. The quality is often undetermined, and warrants further examination. The extensive work concerning clinical procedures is in urgent need of direction, structure and transparency.