OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the protocols published in the journal Formación Médica Continuada (FMC) since its appearance. DESIGN: An evaluation study. SETTING: The journal FMC in Primary Care. PARTICIPANTS: Clinical protocols (11) published by the journal, and the people who have composed them. INTERVENTIONS: An evaluation based on the criteria for composing clinical protocols proposed by Saura et al. MAIN RESULTS: Overall these proposals complied with 56.9% of the proposed criteria. None of them (0%) complied with all the norms that a protocol must meet. On analysing independently each criterion, the following were satisfied in all the protocols evaluated: the designation, index of pages, definition of the problem and bibliography. The protocol for COPE in Primary Care satisfied 75% of the criteria and was the protocol which complied with most criteria. The battered child protocol satisfied 41.66% of the criteria and was the protocol satisfying the least number of criteria. CONCLUSIONS: These are good protocols, in that overall they satisfy a large part of the proposed criteria, despite the fact that these are demanding criteria. However they can and must improve.
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the protocols published in the journal Formación Médica Continuada (FMC) since its appearance. DESIGN: An evaluation study. SETTING: The journal FMC in Primary Care. PARTICIPANTS: Clinical protocols (11) published by the journal, and the people who have composed them. INTERVENTIONS: An evaluation based on the criteria for composing clinical protocols proposed by Saura et al. MAIN RESULTS: Overall these proposals complied with 56.9% of the proposed criteria. None of them (0%) complied with all the norms that a protocol must meet. On analysing independently each criterion, the following were satisfied in all the protocols evaluated: the designation, index of pages, definition of the problem and bibliography. The protocol for COPE in Primary Care satisfied 75% of the criteria and was the protocol which complied with most criteria. The battered child protocol satisfied 41.66% of the criteria and was the protocol satisfying the least number of criteria. CONCLUSIONS: These are good protocols, in that overall they satisfy a large part of the proposed criteria, despite the fact that these are demanding criteria. However they can and must improve.