[Systematic literature searches for clinical guideline development in the field of out-of-hospital and early in-hospital care of multiply injured patients].
Der Unfallchirurg · 2002-10-29 · Systematic review
Abstract
QUESTION: To what extent does the scientific literature have an impact on current clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) in trauma surgery? METHODS: We searched for CPGs on the initial management of multiply injured patients and assessed the quality of literature search and appraisal within these CPGs. Secondly, we compiled a list of all medical journal with relevance to prehospital trauma care. Lastly, we performed a hand search for randomised controlled trials (RCTs) in some of the German not in Medline indexed traumatological journals. RESULTS: We identified 22 CPGs of varying methodological quality. The American guidelines scored highest. Only 21 of the 38 journals (55%) in the field of prehospital trauma surgery were indexed in Medline, while 6 were covered only by Embase and 11 were indexed in neither of both databases. Hand searching four non-indexed German journals identified nearly 200 RCTs. CONCLUSION: Information flow between clinical research and CPG development remains difficult. Thoroughly performed literature searches have an important role in CPG development.