Clinical guidelines on depression: A qualitative study of GPs’ views

If we are serious about closing the gap between research evidence and practice, possibly a new system of guideline development is needed, with a national clearinghouse for guidelines. Here a multidisciplinary team including some GPs would be responsible for evaluating guidelines, incorporating them onto computer systems, auditing performance, and giving feedback to GPs. This study has opened up possibilities for further exploration.

Acknowledgments

This study was carried out from the Health Services Research Unit, which is funded by the Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Executive Health Department. LS was supported by the Medical Research Council Health Services Research Collaboration. We would like to thank the GPs who participated in this study, and Vikki Entwistle and Steve Ratcliff for their helpful comments on earlier drafts of this paper. The opinions expressed in this paper are those of the authors, and may not be shared by the funding bodies.

Corresponding author
Liz Smith, MA, PhD, Manchester Centre for Healthcare Management, University of Manchester, Devonshire House, University Precinct Centre, Oxford Road, Manchester, UK, M13 9PL. E-mail: lsmith@dom01.mbs.ac.uk.