Development and Implementation of Clinical Guidelines for Sexual and Reproductive Health. A Course for Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

The UNFPA Regional Office for Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA RO) started in 2013 a Regional Initiative on standardization and institutionalization of quality national clinical guidelines in sexual and reproductive health, to address existing gaps in quality of care in the region. As part of this initiative, EECA RO, in partnership with the East European Institute for Reproductive Health (EEIRH), is organizing a Regional Course on the methodology to develop/adapt and implement clinical guidelines in sexual and reproductive health (SRH). The live course is run in English language in Romania, and in Russian language in the Republic of Moldova. The original material for the Regional Course was developed by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG), EEIRH and UNFPA, with the purpose to up skill clinicians, health managers and policy makers in guideline development/adaptation, and addresses also the implementation process as well as the principles of clinical audit to improve health care structures and service delivery.

We are glad to provide an online course on clinical guidelines development and implementation, based on the lectures of the live Regional Course. While recognizing that the online learning environment has its limitations, we encourage all professionals interested in the subject to take the full live Regional Course.

The aim of this course is to train clinicians, managers and policy makers in guideline development and adaptation in order to further develop health care structures and improve health care provision. The course will provide an insight into clinical governance and how this informs the need for an evidence based approach to develop and adapt clinical guidelines for local use. It will also develop an understanding of the barriers to implementation and how these may be addressed.

The objectives of the course are:

• To develop skills to develop and/or adapt clinical guidelines, applying the principles of evidence-based medicine;
• To share various models and methods of development and adaptation of clinical guidelines;
• To provide knowledge and tools for monitoring and assessing the implementation of clinical guidelines;
• To develop the ability to identify gaps that exist in current healthcare and to plan and to overcome these gaps, applying the principles of clinical governance; and
• To promote a quality agenda of healthcare and equality in SRH across EECA.

It is important that the processes of guideline development, implementation and audit are understood and implemented at all levels. The course is aimed at the following target groups: guideline developers, clinicians, healthcare managers, and healthcare policy makers. The Regional Initiative aims to achieve in EECA countries a critical mass of trained professionals who have the knowledge and skills for developing/adapting SRH clinical guidelines, and the competency for conducting roll-out national training sessions in their countries. Countries will be supported, upon their request, to roll out the training at national level and to plan and develop a coherent guideline development programme as a part of the country’s health care development strategy.