[Norwegian Society of Gynecology and Obstetrics--guidelines in obstetrics. Structure, process, results and evaluation].

This paper describes structure, process, results, and evaluation of the Norwegian Society of Gynaecology and Obstetrics' Guidelines in obstetrics. This work, which lasted for 2 1/2 years, involved almost all obstetrical departments in Norway and 1/4 of all members of the Norwegian Society of Gynaecology and Obstetrics. All members of the Norwegian Society of Gynaecology and Obstetrics were invited to answer 24 questions. Of the 63% who replied to the questionnaire, 44% and 48% respectively stated that the Guidelines in obstetrics were very good or good. The introduction of the Guidelines in obstetrics led to changes in routines in more than 70% of the hospitals, and the different categories of hospital physicians changed their routines as well (55-65%). 83% of the heads of the departments stated that the Guidelines in obstetrics served partly or totally as the model for the obstetrical management guidelines. The evaluation and the experience of this quality assessment handbook serve as perspectives for future work.