Pediatricians' attitudes, beliefs, and practices regarding clinical practice guidelines: a national survey.
BACKGROUND
Clinical practice guidelines are increasingly being used for a wide variety of medical conditions, but not enough is known about physicians' attitudes and beliefs about guidelines, how often and under what circumstances they are used, and factors associated with their acceptance.


OBJECTIVE
To determine practice guideline attitudes, beliefs, practices, and factors associated with use among a representative national sample of general pediatricians.


METHODS
Cross-sectional mail survey.


METHODS
Random sample of general pediatrician members of the American Academy of Pediatrics residing in all 50 states and Puerto Rico.


METHODS
Twenty-four multiple-choice, Likert scale, yes-no, and open-ended questions about pediatric clinical practice guidelines.


RESULTS
From 1088 respondents, 461 specialists were excluded; the remaining 627 general pediatricians were mostly male (61%), white (81%), and in group practice (62%) in a suburban location (48%). Practice guidelines are used by 35% of pediatricians, in part by 44%, and not at all by 21%. Over 100 different practice guidelines are used, most commonly for asthma (77%), hyperbilirubinemia (27%), and otitis media (19%). Common reasons for use of practice guidelines include standardization of care (17%) and helpfulness (10%). Commonly cited problems with practice guidelines include failure to allow for clinical judgment (54%), use in litigation (16%), and limitation of autonomy (5%). In multivariate analysis, the odds of practice guideline use were greater among pediatricians in health maintenance organization practices (odds ratio [OR]: 9.1; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.2-68.0) and those who were nonwhite (OR: 2.3; 95% CI: 1.1-4.8), but lower in those with more weekly patient visits (OR:.7; 95% CI:.5-.9). Features most likely to lead to practice guideline use include simplicity (16%), feasibility (12%), and evidence of improved outcomes (10%). Most pediatricians agree that practice guidelines improve outcomes (89%), are motivated by a desire to improve quality (94%), and should not be used in litigation (82%) or disciplinary actions (77%), nor be motivated by a desire to reduce costs (73%).


CONCLUSIONS
Most general pediatricians use practice guidelines, but no specific guidelines, except those for asthma, are used by >27% of pediatricians. The results of this study suggest that practice guidelines are most likely to be followed if they are simple, flexible, rigorously tested, not used punitively, and are motivated by desires to improve quality, not reduce costs.
Flores
G
G
Division of General Pediatrics, Boston Medical Center, Bsoton University Schools of Medicine and Public Health, Boston 02118, USA. glenn.flores@bmc.org
Lee
M
M
Bauchner
H
H
Kastner
B
B
D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D006279:Health Maintenance Organizations / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006302:Health Services Research / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010372:Pediatrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014481:United States