[Guideline adherence - is more always better?].

Guidelines play an increasing role in the health system. Guidelines are intended to provide guidance in the sense of ‟corridors for action and decision", whereby in certain justified cases actions can - or even must - deviate from them. "Cookbook medicine" is not the aim of guidelines.Guideline adherence can not necessarily be equated with guideline conformity. Adherence presumes an agreed treatment goal between patient and physician and focuses the behavior of the patient. Based on current studies on guideline adherence, the use of the term in studies on urological tumors is analyzed.