Guidelines into practice: An international pilot study of "Asthma Crystal Byte"

Ronald G Neville; Colin McCowan; Ian Ricketts; Joao A Fonseca; Giovanni Invernizzi; Claudia Stey

doi:10.1038/pcrj.2000.21

Guidelines into practice: An international pilot study of "Asthma Crystal Byte"

Prim Care Respir J. 2000 Dec;9(3):56-58. doi: 10.1038/pcrj.2000.21. Epub 2000 Dec 1.

Authors

Ronald G Neville¹, Colin McCowan¹, Ian Ricketts¹, Joao A Fonseca², Giovanni Invernizzi³, Claudia Stey⁴

Affiliations

¹ University of Dundee, UK.
² Allergy Clinical Immunology Resident, Hospital S Joao, Porto, Portugal.
³ Primary Care Physician, Gruppo di Lavoro SIMG, Milano, Italy.
⁴ Senior Registrar in Internal and Pulmonary Medicine Medical Policlinic, University Hospital of Zurich, Switzerland.

Abstract

Introduction: Decision support software offers an opportunity to improve the care of patients with asthma by linking individual management decisions to guidelines.

Method: A guidelines based software package linked to a large database and incorporating a morbidity predictive function was developed in the United Kingdom. Clinicians from several European countries volunteered to evaluate the package in their own clinical environment.

Results: The package was run during consultations with patients in the UK, Portugal, Switzerland and Italy. Clinicians agreed on a need for local translations, local drug choices and guidelines to be developed. An emphasis on allergy, immunology and smoking cessation advice in asthma care in some countries highlighted a need to adapt country specific versions.

Conclusions: This International pilot study demonstrated that clinicians can learn from each other and work together around a common theme of implementing guidelines using decision support software.