Standards and Guidelines in EU countries EQUS Conference, Brussels, 2011 Roland Simon, Marica Ferri, EMCDDA

2 Introduction Two terms The purpose of standardisation and guidelines The State of development: Treatment guidelines in EU Member States The role of Europe and the EMCDDA Practical implications

3 Two terms Guidelines “Systematically developed statements to assist practitioner and patient decisions about appropriate health care for specific clinical circumstances” EQUS Working Document Standards “Generally accepted principles or sets of rules for the best/most appropriate way to implement an intervention.” Field and Lohr (1992) “Expert knowledge stored in rules” Brunsson et al. (2000). A world or standards Two terms Purpose Treatment guidelines EMCDDA role Next steps

4 The purpose of standards and guidelines StandardsGuidelines Based on - knowledge/evidence - similarities ● more ● less Effects - increased efficiency and safety - standardisation●● FocusManage- ment Guidance Advice Formal adoption● Two terms Purpose Treatment guidelines EMCDDA role Next steps

5 But In practice, standards and guidelines may sometimes not be clearly differentiated from each other. Guidelines may include underlying standards or vice versa. Two terms Purpose Treatment guidelines EMCDDA role Next steps

6 State of development in EU Member States StandardsGuidelines Prevention Treatment Harm reduction Social rehabilitation EQUS EMCDDA Basis: Study on national guidelines SI implementation of guidelines Two terms Purpose Treatment guidelines EMCDDA role Next steps

7 Treatment Guidelines in the EU Two terms Purpose Treatment guidelines EMCDDA role Nest steps N= 30

8 Treatment Guidelines in the EU N=141 Two terms Purpose Treatment guidelines EMCDDA role Next steps

9 Treatment Guidelines in the EU N=141 Two terms Purpose Treatment guidelines EMCDDA role Next steps

10 All countries are committed to improve quality of treatment – even more so under financial constraints Development of guidelines is an expensive and time consuming process: collect evidence ► assess practice ► find consensus ► implement guidelines ► monitoring clinical practice Implementation is crucial and needs as much efforts as the production of guidelines Treatment Guidelines in the EU: National Experiences Two terms Purpose Treatment guidelines EMCDDA role Next steps - collect - appraise - synthesize - grade evidence

11 Scientific evidence Practice/ Experience Guidelines Standards MS role in Guidelines and Standards Consensus seeking Introduction Two terms Purpose Treatment guidelines EMCDDA role Next steps

12 Scientific evidence Practice/ Experience EU role in Guidelines and Standards Introduction Two terms Purpose Treatment guidelines EMCDDA role Next steps Consensus seeking EU/ International National Guidelines National Standards EU/ International

13 “provide information on best practices … and facilitating exchange” EMCDDA Regulation Collect national guidelines and experiences Provide an inventory and description Draw common conclusions and recommendations Provide input for EU discussion and national development Monitor quality of intervention and implementation of standards and guidelines Keep track of parallel projects like DECIDE The role of the EMCDDA Two terms Purpose Treatment guidelines EMCDDA role Next steps

14 The role of the EMCDDA : The Best Practice Portal as clearing house

15 Next steps here Discuss findings from survey and study Move towards an consensus on Minimum Quality Standards Link EU and national level: feedback, implementation, fine tuning, EUAP The EMCDDA will support the work done by Providing a home for the information in the Best Practice Portal Help to translate it into practice Follow the implementation process Update monitoring instruments where needed to follow the process Two terms Purpose Treatment guidelines EMCDDA role Next steps

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