Medical guideline

A public resource for evidence-based clinical practice guidelines.

Very useful web site with clinical practice guidelines, full text of Association journals and a compilation of health and medicine-related Internet sites for the use of physicians in their practice and research.

This booklet aims to provide guidelines that will assist managers, sexually transmitted infection (STI) programme coordinators and clinic supervisors to develop and implement strategies that will improve the quality of prevention and management of STIs in clients attending public health facilities.

In keeping with the objectives of the National Drug Policy, the third edition of the Standard Treatment Guidelines and Essential Drugs List for Primary Health Care has been developed.

The purpose of these guidelines is to set standards as the basis for the use of ART drugs in South Africa on which training- and supportprogrammes should be based. All health care workers in the public and private sector are urged to familiarise themselves with the content of these guidelines so that we, together, provide the best possible and safest care for those with HIV and AIDS in South Africa. The field of ART is dynamic and changes fairly rapidly, thus these guidelines will be reviewed periodically to ensure that South Africa continues to provide quality care.

WHO case-management guidelines for severe malnutrition aim to improve the quality of hospital care and reduce mortality. We aimed to assess whether these guidelines are feasable and effective in under-resourced hospitals. All children admitted with a diagnosis of severe malnutrition to two rural hospital in Eastern Cape Province from April. 2000 to April, 2001, were studied and their case-fatality rates were compared to with the rates in a period before guidelines were implemented (March 1997 to February 1998). Quality of care was assessed by observation of medical and nursing practices, review of medical records, and interviews with carers and staff. A mortality audit was used to identify cause of death and avoidable contributory factors.

The following are basic principles and guidelines to assist the primary health care worker in the Cape Metropolitan Area (CMA). The protocol concentrates on the clinical aspects of management only. Health care workers are also encouraged to review pre- and post-test counselling guidelines and counselling skills if they are dealing with HIV positive patients.

In July 2001, CDC published Updated Guidelines for Evaluating Public Health Surveillance Systems. The integration of surveillance and health information systems, the establishment of data standards, the electronic exchange of health data, and changes in the objectives of public health surveillance to facilitate the response of public health to emerging health threats have necessitated the update of the guidelines. These guidelines describe various tasks involved in evaluating a public health surveillance system and provide relevant standards to assess the quality of the evaluation activities. This information is valuable to a wide audience, including public health practitioners; health-care providers; data providers and users; professional, private, and nonprofit organizations; and government officials at the local, state, and federal levels.