ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION The main reasons for developing clinical guidelines are the desire of health care professionals to offer, and patients to receive, the best care possible. Since not every individual patient fits into a box in a clinical guideline, the latter alone is not enough; guideline infor mation must be combined with the clinical experience of the doctor in order to decide whether the evidence applies to the individual patient and how it should be integrated into clinical practice. This combination creates a dynamic state of learning and teaching, which may help to improve health care and costeffectiveness.
