Guideline adaptation in Poland: first step in evidence implementation.

Background: According to the report published by the National Chamber of Physicians, currently the guideline development process in Poland is not coordinated and there is no document setting the standards for the process or methods of guideline production in Poland or institution assessing guideline quality on a regular basis. We postulated that adaptation of good-quality guidelines can improve the quality of the guidelines available and serve as a first step in translating evidence into practice by making physicians aware of the evidence.

Aims: To discuss methodological challenges and lessons learned during the project lead by the National Chamber of Physicians regarding guideline adaptation in Poland as a first step in evidence implementation.

Methods: The National Chamber of Physicians set up a project that involved adaptation of the guidelines with the use of a systematic approach suggested by the ADAPTE Collaboration. The guideline development team involved methodologist, clinical experts, specialists, primary care physician and patient representative. The process followed the framework established by the ADAPTE Toolkit.

Results/discussion: The topic in one the groups was management of depression in primary care. Key lesson learned during the process of defining clinical questions included the importance of cooperation between all involved groups due to differences in their point of views. Since several guideline documents were identified, one of the important lessons learned during the development of inclusion and exclusion criteria was to define a minimal set of methodological inclusion criteria because the documents found varied in the methods used and in the thoroughness of the description of the process.

Conclusion: Well defined inclusion criteria, systematic use of available methods for the assessment of guideline quality and tools provided by the ADAPTE Toolkit refined to the needs of the guideline development groups facilitated the process of guideline adaptation in Poland as a first step in evidence implementation.