Fifteen hundred guidelines and growing: the UK database of clinical guidelines

The National Library for Health offers a comprehensive searchable database of nationally approved clinical guidelines, called the Guidelines Finder. This resource, commissioned in 2002, is managed and developed by the University of Sheffield Health Sciences Library.

The authors introduce the historical and political dimension of guidelines and the nature of guidelines as a mechanism to ensure clinical effectiveness in practice. The article then outlines the maintenance and organisation of the Guidelines Finder database itself, the criteria for selection, who publishes guidelines and guideline formats, usage of the Guidelines Finder service and finally looks at some lessons learnt from a local library offering a national service.

Clinical guidelines are central to effective clinical practice at the national, organisational and individual level. The Guidelines Finder is one of the most visited resources within the National Library for Health and is successful in answering information needs related to specific patient care, clinical research, guideline development and education.