August/September 2000
News
NICE publishes recommendations on diabetes treatment
GPs pilot meningitis guidance
Editorial
New guidance aims to help GPs manage dying patients
Dr Anne Naysmith, consultant in palliative medicine, Pembridge Palliative Care Centre, St Charles' Hospital, London
Editorial
Electronic guidelines enable GPs to keep up to date
Dr Charles Sears, general practitioner, Salisbury
Personal View
Counting the cost of the NICE guidance on PPIs
Dr Mark Cottrill explains why the NICE guidance may fail to achieve its aim of reducing the cost of PPI prescribing
In Reply
Don't forget your local health librarian
Library and information specialists can be a valuable source of information on evidence-based medicine and clinical effectiveness
Guideline Development
BAP revises guidelines for antidepressant use
Dr Ian Anderson explains why the British Association for Psychopharmacology felt the need to develop new, evidence-based guidelines for treating depression
Audit
Hypertension audit brings practice in line with BHS guidelines
Audit of hypertensive patients in Dr Nigel Watson's practice led to changes in practice that significantly improved the percentage with adequate blood pressure control
IT Developments
Using low-cost internet as a quality medium for promoting PGDs
Peter Jones, Andy Harris and Christine Parker-Jones describe a patient group direction (group protocol) website that gives health professionals easy access to the relevant protocol
Key Organisations
The Cochrane Collaboration and Library
Rachel Stancliffe, Head of Communications, The Cochrane Library
Questions & Answers
Your problems solved
Our editorial board answer your questions on what to do when patients refuse treatment and guidelines give conflicting advice
Out of Hours
Guidelines on fetching patients in person
Dr Phil Hammond, GP, lecturer and presenter of BBC2's Trust Me, I'm a Doctor