Open image in new window Fig. 1 Availability of Guidelines.
Figure 3 Availability of Guidelines for therapeutic Drug Monitoring.
Survey respondents in 18/30 countries were aware of the availability of Guidelines in their country.
Workshop participants agreed that the availability of Guidelines did not equate with their use.
It is possible that guidelines influence the chosen treatment strategy, and that prescriptions for migraine medication correlate with the availability of guidelines.
Education and involvement of referring clinicians are mostly proposed by competent authorities as potential solutions to overcome the barriers limiting the availability of Guidelines (see Fig. 8).
A gap still exists between best-practice recommendations for pain assessment/treatment and current clinical practice, despite the availability of guidelines.
The EC-sponsored project "Implementation of Council Directive 97/43/Euratom requirements concerning referral criteria for medical imaging in the European Union" was carried out by a consortium of European partners starting with this survey of the availability of Guidelines in 2012.
A web-based survey was used to assess the availability of Guidelines, development methodology and preferences for future initiatives for European community action to facilitate justification, and to implement appropriate use of diagnostic and interventional radiological procedures.
Various factors affect the degree of their awareness, but in general, they indicate a need for more support specifically through enhanced availability of guidelines, rapid molecular tests, prediction tools, and effective antibiotics.
They preferred educational interventions, such as specific teaching sessions, availability of guidelines or readily accessible advice from an infectious diseases specialist, to improve antibiotic prescribing, rather than restricted prescription of antibiotics.
