Address for correspondence: Dr. Francesco N. Lauria, Direzione Sanitaria, Istituto Nazionale per le Malattie Infettive, "Lazzaro Spallanzani"—IRCCS, Via Portuense, 292, 00149 Rome, Italy. Voice: +39 06 551701; fax: +39 06 5594224.
lauria{at}spallanzani.roma.it
Several guidelines have been developed for the diagnosis, treatment
and prevention of infectious diseases. Actually, evidence-based
clinical practice guidelines provide physicians and other health
care professionals with scientific information about the most
appropriate strategy for the management of these patients, in
order to avoid unnecessary or inappropriate interventions. As
medical technology rapidly increases and becomes more complex,
clinical guidelines can help health care providers to assess
current practices and integrate new technological advances.
Since AIDS was first recognized nearly 20 years ago, remarkable
progress has been made in improving the quality and duration
of life for HIV
+ patients. In this area, clinical guidelines
have been developed to manage patient care, focusing on: antiretroviral
therapy, prevention of opportunistic infections, and treatment
of tuberculosis. The quality of the guideline is notable when
appropriate methodologies are applied. Different methods for
developing guidelines are evaluated here: Agency for Health
Care Policy and Research (AHPCR) methodology is designed to
produce evidence-based guidelines that are valid, clinically
applicable, and flexible. Finally, the problems associated with
the implementation of guidelines for HIV-related diseases and
other infectious diseases are examined.
