[Medical guidelines. Definitions, goals, implementation]

Medical guidelines are an important part of quality control programs. They may act on knowledge, attitude, and behaviour of physicians as well as of medical laymen and, therefore, on the quality of medical care. As guidelines have been developed and distributed in the U.S. and in other countries for decades, recommendations for the medical practice termed "guidelines" or "consensus reports" are more and more distributed in Germany, as well. However, the internationally accepted quality criteria are only rarely taken into account for such independent guidelines. This review aims to impart such quality criteria. Additionally, a structure for a standardized review and organization of guidelines is proposed.