Guidelines in orthopaedic surgery. A first step

Guidelines are systematically developed statements of the actual knowledge in order to assist doctors and patients by the decision of appropriate heal th care. Since 1998 the DGOT has published 22 well structured guidelines, 2 0 guidelines are under construction. The AWMF as the coordinator of guideli ne constructing of all scientific medical societies has published 629 guide lines since 1995. The publication of guidelines of the DGOT and the BVO is the first step for dissemination, nexts steps should be implementation und evaluation. Then it will be evident whether change in medical practice will occur.