Barriers to Clinical Practice Guideline Implementation Among Physicians: A Physician Survey

Clinical practice guidelines can help physicians provide evidence-based, standardized clinical decisions. We aimed to assess physician attitudes toward and barriers to guideline adherence. We conducted a single center, cross-sectional, survey-based study. Physicians from many specialties participated in the study. All outcomes were measured using a validated survey tool. The primary outcome of interest was barriers to guideline adherence. Secondary outcomes included general attitudes toward guidelines and factors that could improve adherence to guidelines. Outcomes were measured by the survey tool. All outcomes were reported on a 5-point Likert scale. The email survey was received by 1819 physicians with 400 responders (22% response rate). About 50% (n=200) were in practice for >5 years, while 27% (n=107) were still in training. Trainees were less likely to understand the process of guideline development (RR= 0.76 [0.65-0.88], p=0.0017), to have input in guideline development (RR= 0.52 [0.41-0.65], p