[Guideline skating for the family doctor].

The sheer mass of guidelines sometimes gives the physician more of a headache rather than the support in his diagnostic and therapeutic endeavors--which is the actual service they are supposed to provide. Indeed, different guidelines exist for one and the same disease--it all boils down to the specialty concerned. Furthermore, proof of the quality of the individual medical guidelines is often lacking. Some doctors also worry that their individual work with the patient is degenerating ever more into an automated standardized process.