Finnish Medical Society Evidenice-Based Medicine Guidelines for primary care

Committed to the Open Source Movement in Healthcare

Established
16 October 1998

updated: 14 February 2002

Finnish Medical Society: 'EBM Guidelines' (EBMG) for primary care

The Finnish Medical Society started to produce electronic guidelines for primary care in 1988. Our guideline collection is presently used by nearly 100% of Finnish physicians, and it is the most important single source of medical information in Finland. The guidelines are updated twice a year

EBMG is a regularly updated collection of more than 900 clinical guidelines intended for primary care. It is published by Duodecim Medical Publications Ltd., which is owned by the Finnish Medical Society. In collaboration with Update Software, the publisher of the Cochrane Library, all Cochrane reviews and DARE abstracts (as well as original publications) relevant to primary care are summarised in brief evidence summaries, and linked to recommendations in the guidelines. The strength of evidence is coded from A to D. Full-text versions of all cited Cochrane reviews are included. EBMG is available as CD-ROM, Internet and mobile versions. An adapted, localised version has been published as a book in Russian language (by Geotar-Med, Moscow). We are planning to join initiatives to provide information at low cost or free to developing countries

Evidence behind the recommendations is described in brief summaries, the strength of evidence is indicated, and there are links to full-text Cochrane reviews (in collaboration with Update Software)

The English version of this guideline collection (EBM Guidelines) has users in nearly 40 countries. The key features promoting implementation are concise format ( the whole guideline can be read in a couple of minutes), a fast search engine, comprehensiveness of the collection (research shows that users in Finland find the information they are looking for in more than 80% of searching occasions), and explicitly described research evidence which allows the user to judge the applicability of the recommendations in a clinical situation. Finnish health districts have linked their local guidelines as direct links to topics in EBM Guidelines and publish them jointly on the same platforms (Internet and CD-ROM) - this facilitates the production and updating of local guidelines

An adapted version of EBM Guidelines has been published in the Russian language by Geotar-Med, Moscow. This effort was accomplished in 8 months by a Russian editorial board established by the publisher by adding comments to each guideline needing local adaptation. The added contents are marked in the text

From:

Ilkka Kunnamo MD PhD
Editor-in-Chief of Evidence-Based Medicine Guidelines (EBMG)