Abstract
BackgroundIn 1996 the guideline 'The Red Eye' was first published by the Dutch College of General Practitioners. The extent to which general practitioners adhere to this guideline is unclear. Recently, data on the management of infectious conjunctivitis by general practitioners became available from the Second Dutch National Survey of General Practice. We measured the age-specific incidence of infectious conjunctivitis, described its management by Dutch general practitioners, and then compared these findings with the recommendations made in the guideline.MethodsIn 2001, over a 12-month period, data from all patient contacts with 195 general practitioners were taken from electronic medical records. Registration was episode-oriented; all consultations dealing with the same health problem were grouped into disease episodes. Data concerning all episodes of infectious conjunctivitis (ICPC-code F70 and sub codes) were analysed.ResultsOver one year, 5,213 new and recurrent episodes of infectious conjunctivitis were presented to general practitioners from a population of N = 375,899, resulting in an overall incidence rate of 13.9 per 1000 person-years, varying from more than 80/1000 py in children up to one-year old, to less than 12/1000 py in children over the age of 4. Topical ophthalmic ointments were prescribed in 87% of the episodes, of which 80% was antibiotic treatment. Fusidic acid gel was most frequently prescribed (69%). In most episodes general practitioners did not adhere to the guideline.ConclusionIn 2001, the management of infectious conjunctivitis by Dutch general practitioners was not in accordance with the recommendations of the consensus-based guideline published five years previously, despite its wide distribution. In 2006 this guideline was revised. Its successful implementation requires more than distribution alone. Probably the most effective way to achieve this is by following a model for systemic implementation.
Highlights
In 1996 the guideline 'The Red Eye' was first published by the Dutch College of General Practitioners
The chapter concerning the management of infectious conjunctivitis recommends that, when infectious conjunctivitis is diagnosed, the general practitioner should emphasize to the patient that it is a contagious, but harmless disorder, which normally gets better on its own
Summary of main findings The results show that, in 2001, five years after the publication of the guideline, the management of infectious conjunctivitis by general practitioners was predominantly not according to the guideline
Summary
In 1996 the guideline 'The Red Eye' was first published by the Dutch College of General Practitioners. Data on the management of infectious conjunctivitis in general practice from registration projects and studies, which took place before the guideline was published, were available [3,4,5,6,7] These data showed that in more than 80% of cases of acute infectious conjunctivitis general practitioners prescribed ocular antibiotics. New data on the management of infectious conjunctivitis by general practitioners were made available by the Second Dutch National Survey of General Practice. This survey took place in 2001, five years after the introduction of the guideline [10]. These findings were compared with the recommendations made in the guideline
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