Do neurosurgeons subscribe to the guideline lumbosacral radicular syndrome?
BACKGROUND
This study presents a survey of the opinion of neurosurgeons on the multidisciplinary clinical guideline 'lumbosacral radicular syndrome'. The aim was to describe to what extent neurosurgeons in the Netherlands endorse the content of this guideline. The guideline was issued in 1996 by the Netherlands Institute of Quality Health Care and this is the first attempt to evaluate the implementation of this guideline.


METHODS
All active neurosurgeons (n=92) in the Netherlands were invited to complete a questionnaire investigating to what extent they agree with the 26 recommendations in the guideline 'lumbosacral radicular syndrome'. The results are represented in frequencies (%) in order to express the magnitude of their consent or dissent with the recommendations.


RESULTS
Overall, 75% of the neurosurgeons responded and, of these, 94% agreed (at least partially) with the content of the guideline. Of the 26 recommendations in the guideline, seven were not fully endorsed by the neurosurgeons. Three of these seven recommendations may need revision based on newly published data.


CONCLUSIONS
This survey shows that almost all neurosurgeons subscribed (at least partially) to the multidisciplinary LRS guideline. Therefore, one important aspect of the implementation process has been fulfilled, i.e. acceptance of the content of the guideline.
Department of General Practice, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands. p.luijsterburg@erasmusmc.nl
P A J
PA
Luijsterburg
A P
AP
Verhagen
S
S
Braak
C J J
CJ
Avezaat
B W
BW
Koes
D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D005260:Female; D019983:Guideline Adherence; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009426:Netherlands; D009493:Neurosurgery / Q000523:psychology*; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D012585:Sciatica / Q000628:therapy*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires