Research in general practice - achievements in the past and possibilities for the future

With our limited resources, the national colleges of general practice in the Nordic countries should select only a few important topics and only get involved in guideline preparations if they have a primary care perspective. We need not develop our own guidelines from scratch, but should take existing international GP clinical guidelines and literature reviews as a starting point and conduct the first steps in the guideline preparation jointly in the Nordic countries. More effort could then be directed towards the subsequent stages of guideline preparations and the implementation process. Key stakeholders should be involved at all stages in guideline development and at all levels of the health services to ensure commitment and improve the likelihood of implementation.