Adopting and adapting clinical guidelines for local use

Key content• Clinical guidelines help to standardise and improve patient care. • Development of a valid clinical guideline requires resources and skills. • Local adaptation of a national guideline provides a cost‐effective approach to guideline introduction. • A formal consensus process allows local stakeholders to adapt a national guideline. • The adapted guideline combines the rigour of national development with the acceptability engendered by local consensus.Learning objectives• To gain an overview of the fundamental principles of clinical guideline development. • To learn how to adapt national guidelines for use by local NHS organisations or by groups of clinicians in non‐UK settings.Ethical issues• Guideline introduction diverts scarce resources from direct clinical care. • Evidence indicates that guidelines result in only modest to moderate improvements in patient outcomes. • Clinicians wishing to introduce clinical guidelines should adopt an approach that minimises resource use.Please cite this article as: Penney GC. Adopting and adapting clinical guidelines for local use. The Obstetrician & Gynaecologist 2007;9:48–52.