ABSTRACT
Administrator-clinicians can introduce protocols to establish methods for managing particular presentations and to give practitioners guidelines that can be learned and followed step by step. The protocols also assist staff in achieving a standard level of care and allow that care to be reported and audited. Trainees who use the protocols can more easily understand the sequence that will achieve an expected outcome. Opponents of them argue that they dull creativity and stifle spontaneity in a worker. They also argue that protocols increase chances for litigation if staff do not follow all the steps. An administrator may use protocols as suggestions or guidelines for care, rather than as rigid standards, thereby minimizing the disad-vantages.
