9th G-I-N conference overview
Jako Burgers, MD PhD
Member of the G-I-N Board of Trustees 2003/2004 until 2010/2011; Vice-Chair of the G-I-N Board of Trustees 2006/2007; Chair of G-I-N Board of Trustees 2007/2008
Jako Burgers is Senior Researcher at IQ healthcare, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre in the Netherlands. He also works part-time as general practitioner.
From 1992 to 2002 he was involved in guideline development at the Dutch College of General Practitioners. From 1998 to 2003 he was co-investigator in the international AGREE (Appraisal Guidelines Research and Evaluation) project.
His thesis 'Quality of Clinical Practice Guidelines' was rewarded with the CaRE Award 2002 of the Netherlands School of Primary Care Research.
He was co-opted member of the board of trustees of G-I-N in 2003 and became member of the board in 2004. He served as vice-chair in 2006/07, and as chair in 2007/08.
In 2008/09 he was Commonwealth Fund Harkness Fellow in Health Care Policy and Practice, based at Harvard School of Public Health in Boston. He has authored over 30 peer-reviewed journal articles on guideline development and effectiveness in clinical practice and gave lectures and training workshops in Europe, Taiwan, Australia, and Saudi Arabia.
"Vision of G-I-N in five years"
Since its foundation in 2003, G-I-N fulfills the needs of many guideline organisations across the world to encourage international exchange of knowledge and experience in guidelines. Its website offers a large database of guidelines on a variety of topics, which are very useful for organisations and researchers active in the same field of interest. G-I-N’s annual conferences have been attended by an increasing number of visitors and were always highly appreciated. For the next five years, G-I-N needs to consolidate its success. It could expand from guidelines to indicators and other tools for improving the quality of care. Strong links with other international organisations and networks with closely related goals, such as the Spanish-Iberian Guidelines Network, the International Network of Agencies for Health Technology Assessment (INAHTA), the International Society for Quality in Health Care (ISQUA), and the Cochrane Collaboration, are important to reduce duplication of efforts and to promote international collaboration. G-I-N’s guideline library could be improved by offering links with the US National Guideline Clearinghouse and by providing more background information about the guidelines. Open access of G-I-N’s database is needed to further promote the dissemination and use of guidelines. G-I-N should continue to support their members, particularly those in non-English-speaking countries, in exchanging their products among a worldwide audience. Broad representation of countries and continents in the board of G-I-N will help realising its goals.
Email: j.burgers@cbo.nl
