ArticleThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners1999
General practitioners' use of guidelines in the consultation and their attitudes to them.
Article in The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 1999. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers.
What it found
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed.
- Implementation of RCGP guidelines for acute low back pain: a cluster randomised controlled trial.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2004Trial
- Efficacy of case method learning in general practice for secondary prevention in patients with coronary artery disease: randomised controlled study.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2002Trial
- Investigation and management of iron deficiency anaemia in general practice: a cluster randomised controlled trial of a simple management prompt.Postgraduate medical journal · 2002Trial
- Perceptions of the usefulness of Choosing Wisely among general practitioners in Norway: a nationwide survey.BMC primary care · 2025Article
- Utilization of clinical practice guidelines and interprofessional collaboration in depression management in Swiss primary care: a cross-sectional survey study among primary care physicians.BMC primary care · 2025Article
- Acute stroke awareness of family physicians: translation of policy to practice.Health research policy and systems · 2020Article
- Evaluation of a clinical decision-making aid for nutrition advice in age-related macular degeneration.The British journal of visual impairment · 2017Article
- Critical attitudes and beliefs towards guidelines amongst palliative care professionals - results from a national survey.BMC palliative care · 2017Article
- Supporting patients treated for prostate cancer: a video vignette study with an email-based educational program in general practice.Journal of medical Internet research · 2014Article
- Agreement of general practitioners with the guideline-based stepped-care strategy for patients with osteoarthritis of the hip or knee: a cross-sectional study.BMC family practice · 2013Article
- Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs for the treatment of pain and immobility-associated osteoarthritis: consensus guidance for primary care.BMC family practice · 2012Article
- The medico-professional quality of GP consultations assessed by analysing patient records.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2011Article
- Perceived barriers to guideline adherence: a survey among general practitioners.BMC family practice · 2011Article
- Attitudes and barriers to clinical practice guidelines in general and to the guideline on Parkinson's disease. A National Survey of German neurologists in private practice.Journal of neurology · 2009Article
- Family physicians and dementia in Canada: Part 1. Clinical practice guidelines: awareness, attitudes, and opinions.Canadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien · 2009Article
- Mono-disciplinary or multidisciplinary back pain guidelines? How can we achieve a common message in primary care?European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2006Article
- Characteristics of effective clinical guidelines for general practice.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2003Article
- Are guidelines ethical? Some considerations for general practice.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2002Article
- Impaired glucose tolerance: qualitative and quantitative study of general practitioners' knowledge and perceptions.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2002Article
- Practice guidelines and measurement: state-of-the-science.Nursing outlookReview
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThere is concern about the apparent lack of uptake of management and referral guideline information by general practitioners (GPs) in their day-to-day consultations with patients. Little is understood about the barriers to the uptake of guidelines as perceived by GPs.
aimsTo explore how GPs gain access to and use guidelines, including computer-based guidelines, in day-to-day consultations with their patients; and to identify the perceived problems and barriers to the use of guidelines in such situations.
methodPostal questionnaires enquiring about the practices and attitudes towards the use of guidelines in general practice were completed by 391 of 600 randomly selected GPs in the South and West NHS region.
resultsGPs found guidelines a useful method of accessing expert information. Key factors in their uptake were brevity, an authoritative and unbiased source of evidence, and resonance with the GP's usual practices; they also needed to be flexible enough to incorporate individual viewpoints. Guidelines were perceived as being valuable to enable safe delegation of care to other health professionals and for sharing decision-making with patients. Dissemination of guidelines through the medium of computers was acceptable to the majority of GPs. Virtually all (93%) responders reported adapting guidelines to the needs of individual patients. Older GPs from non-fundholding practices were least likely to show a positive attitude towards guidelines.
conclusionIn principle, there is a very positive attitude towards the use of guidelines in general practice. However, those developing guidelines for use by GPs in the consulting room need to be aware of the factors that facilitate their use in practice. Educational strategies aimed at increasing the use of guidelines need to take into account the significant proportion who show negative attitudes towards guidelines, whose characteristics have been identified in this study.
Indexed as
Identifiers
10622009PMC1313310What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.