Appendix. Search in the Trial Register of the Cochrane Group of Effective Practice And

Appendix. Search in the trial register of the Cochrane Group of Effective Practice and Organisation of Care (EPOC)

Searching for randomised controlled trials with the word “hypertension” in any field produced 58 hits. Several were excluded after reading through the study data-sheet in the trial register, leaving 33. Reading of abstracts excluded 25 more. Many of these showed no effect of interventions that we had not considered using in our study, and many showed some effects of interventions we were already planning to use.

The complete articles were studied for the remaining eight studies [1-7]. This was inspiring but did not lead to any real change in our intervention strategy.

Search for randomised controlled trials with the word “cholesterol” produced 13 hits. Five remained after reading the study data-sheet [8-12]. Reading of abstracts excluded four more. For the one remaining study, the complete paper was studied [12]. However, this gave us little further guidance for the design of our intervention.

Reference list

1. MJ Bass, IR McWhinney, A Donner: Do family physicians need medical assistants to detect and manage hypertension? CMAJ 1986, 134: 1247-1255.

2. HI Goldberg, EH Wagner, SD Fihn, DP Martin, CR Horowitz, DB Christensen, AD Cheadle, P Diehr, G Simon: A randomized controlled trial of CQI teams and academic detailing: can they alter compliance with guidelines? Jt Comm J Qual Improv 1998, 24: 130-142.

3. JN Aucott, E Pelecanos, R Dombrowski, SM Fuehrer, J Laich, DC Aron: Implementation of local guidelines for cost-effective management of hypertension. A trial of the firm system. J Gen Intern Med 1996, 11: 139-146.

4. M Maclure, C Dormuth, T Naumann, J McCormack, R Rangno, C Whiteside, JM Wright: Influences of educational interventions and adverse news about calcium- channel blockers on first-line prescribing of antihypertensive drugs to elderly people in British Columbia. Lancet 1998, 352: 943-948.

5. AA Montgomery, T Fahey, TJ Peters, C MacIntosh, DJ Sharp: Evaluation of computer based clinical decision support system and risk chart for management of hypertension in primary care: randomised controlled trial. BMJ 2000, 320: 686-690.

6. I Hetlevik, J Holmen, O Kruger, P Kristensen, H Iversen: Implementing clinical guidelines in the treatment of hypertension in general practice. Blood Press 1998, 7: 270-276.

7. JG Demakis, C Beauchamp, WL Cull, R Denwood, SA Eisen, R Lofgren, K Nichol, J Woolliscroft, WG Henderson: Improving residents' compliance with standards of ambulatory care: results from the VA Cooperative Study on Computerized Reminders. JAMA 2000, 284: 1411-1416.

8. LA Headrick, T Speroff, HI Pelecanos, RD Cebul: Efforts to improve compliance with the National Cholesterol Education Program guidelines. Results of a randomized controlled trial. Arch Intern Med 1992, 152: 2490-2496.

9. BO Boekeloo, DM Becker, DM Levine, PC Belitsos, TA Pearson: Strategies for increasing house staff management of cholesterol with inpatients. Am J Prev Med 1990, 6: 51-59.

10. TC Keyserling, AS Ammerman, CE Davis, MC Mok, J Garrett, R Simpson, Jr.: A randomized controlled trial of a physician-directed treatment program for low-income patients with high blood cholesterol: the Southeast Cholesterol Project. Arch Fam Med 1997, 6: 135-145.

11. T Van der Weijden: Effect of implementation of cholesterol guidelines on performance. A randomised controlled trial in 20 general practices. University of Maastricht; 1997.

12. T Van der Weijden, RP Grol, JA Knottnerus: Feasibility of a national cholesterol guideline in daily practice. A randomized controlled trial in 20 general practices. Int J Qual Health Care 1999, 11: 131-137.