Development of Stroke Guidelines and Audit for Vietnam and Department of Health Directives

Development of national standards and guidelines is a key activity that is needed to improve clinical care. While international guidelines such as the European Stroke Guidelines provide an invaluable source for evidence review, each national health system needs to ensure that the evidence is applied in a way that is appropriate for their services and population. We are all starting from different places in terms of how health and social services are organised, how funding is provided and how much funding there is and what the expectations of the population are. That is not to say that the evidence should be reinterpreted or dismissed because it is not convenient for a country, but it does mean that the priorities for a country will inevitably differ. There may be some evidence that while accepted is not a priority, while other treatments, perhaps not subjected to randomised controlled trials may be necessary to implement first.