Clinical guidelines and care protocols.

Clinical guidelines and care protocols are intended to provide information, based on an appraisal of the current best evidence of clinical and cost-effectiveness, regarding therapeutic interventions for given conditions. With the establishment of the National Collaborating Centre for Nursing as a part of National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE), it is anticipated that an increasing number of clinical guidelines that focus on aspects of nursing care will be developed at a national level. The Department of Health also aims to introduce nationally agreed multidisciplinary care protocols which will dictate how certain conditions are to be managed. These developments have the potential to enhance healthcare provision and nursing practice. However, they also introduce potential dilemmas for nurses. This paper discusses some of the issues involved in the development and implementation of clinical guidelines and care protocols in intensive care nursing.