Agree instrument: A good instrument for family practice training

Tags: Poster
Stein A1, Khan G2
1Grupo Hospitalar Conceição/Ufcspa/Ulbra, Brazil, 2Grupo Hospitalar Conceição/Ulbra, Brazil

Background: The Appraisal of Guidelines for Research & Evaluation (AGREE) Instrument was developed to address the issue of variability in guideline quality. Underutilization of evidence-based research is often described as a gap between 'what is known’ and 'what is currently done’ in practice settings.

Objective: to introduce the AGREE instrument for family physicians in a residency programme.

Methods: The Community Health Service of Conceição Hospital Group in Porto Alegre, Brazil has been training family physicians and other health professionals for over 20 years. There is a need to improve primary health care in Brazil. The standard of care in this service has been well established by various audit researches and several guidelines have been produced by this group, although no evaluation has been performed with regards to the quality of these guidelines. There are 15 preceptors who have evaluated a Clinical Practice Guideline (CPG) which has been produced for the Brazilian Medical Association in liaison with the Brazilian Association of Family Practice on Management of Dementia in Primary Health Care. A workshop has been conducted to introduce the AGREE instrument and a questionnaire evaluating their perception on the importance of this instrument in the process of care.

Results: Family physicians have found that the AGREE instrument has been very useful on the evaluation of the quality of CPG. They have identified that clinical practice guidelines when rigorously developed using a transparent process that combines scientific evidence, clinician experimental knowledge, and patient values are essential for a good standard of medical care.

Conclusion: The process of using the AGREE instrument for family physicians has emphasized on establishing the process of knowledge translation and a good strategy for training of family physicians in Brazil.