Use of clinical practice guidelines in the primary care setting

Introduction: Physicians need to update their medical knowledge continuously. Practice guidelines, usually updated regularly, are intended to facilitate this. Aim: To explore how general practitioners approach, learn about, and use practice guidelines in their day-to-day decision-making process in primary care. Method: A qualitative study was conducted with focus group interviews. Results: Physicians emphasized that practice guidelines could be used to confirm their own knowledge and increase patient confidence. Conclusions: identified key aspects of learning in the attitude and use of practice guidelines, thus improving the quality of the decision-making process.