Raija Sipilä, Marja Mikkelsson, Mari Honkanen, Antti Malmivaara, Jorma Komulainen
Current Care Guidelines, The Finnish Medical Society Duodecim, 00100 Helsinki, Finland. E-mail: raija.sipila@duodecim.fi
DOI: 10.2340/16501977-2597

Objective: To describe a project to develop guideline implementation tools (GItools) for rehabilitation guidelines, and a collaboration between a guideline producer and a healthcare organization to implement guidelines into care pathways.
Design: Descriptive case study.
Methods: A national guideline organization in Finland launched a 3-year project in 2015 to implement rehabilitation recommendations. Usability of the GItools was evaluated and improved, based on literature, workshops and surveys. An implementation plan guided the production of the GItools. An implementation plan was developed to integrate the shoulder disorders guideline into a care pathway at Päijät-Häme district rehabilitation unit. The implementation plan was produced in 3 facilitated workshops, which included brainstorming, snowballing, prioritizing and short lectures.
Results: Twenty implementation plans and 119 different GItools for 22 guidelines were developed. The GItools, in particular patient material, were perceived as useful for the facilitation of guideline implementation. Four seminars and 14 sessions of continuous medical education were arranged. A plan was developed and executed for the implementation of the shoulder disorders guideline.
Conclusion: It is feasible for a guideline producer to systematically include GItools into rehabilitation guidelines. This implementation project was an example of a successful collaboration between a guideline producer and a healthcare organization.

This article describes a 3-year project to develop tools to facilitate guideline implementation. The project targeted clinical practice guidelines related to rehabilitation. The article also describes the planning of a local implementation project in collaboration with a healthcare organization (Päijät-Häme district, rehabilitation unit) to put into practice the shoulder disorders guideline. First, the usability of available tools was evaluated and improved, based on literature, workshops and surveys. Twenty implementation plans for rehabilitation-related guidelines were produced. For each guideline, implementation objectives were defined. In total 119 implementation tools were produced for 22 guidelines. An implementation plan was developed to integrate the shoulder disorders guideline into a care pathway at Päijät-Häme. In conclusion, it is feasible for a guideline producer to systematically include implementation tools in rehabilitation guidelines. This implementation project was an example of a successful collaboration between a guideline producer and a healthcare organization.

Appendix S1