A survey of attitudes to clinical practice guidelines in general and adherence of the Korea practical guidelines for management of gallbladder polyp: a survey among private clinicians in Korea

BACKGROUNDS/AIMS While clinical practice guidelines are effective tools for improving the quality of patient care and provide specific recommendations for daily practice, the usage of them have been often suboptimal. Therefore, evaluation of physician attitude to guidelines is an important initial step in improving guideline adherence levels. The aim of this study was to survey the attitude on general guidelines and adherence with the Korea Practical Guidelines for gallbladder (GB) polyp two year after their publication and distribution among Korean private clinicians. METHODS To evaluate the survey, questionnaires were sent with a stamp on an addressed envelope to 3,256 private clinicians who were registered at the Seoul Medical Association in April, 2010. From the 3,256 questionnaires, 376 clinicians (11.5%) responded to the survey. RESULTS A total of 91.0% responders agreed to the statement that general guidelines were useful tools for improving patient care and quality of care. One hundred one responders (26.9%) stated that they were aware of the Korea GB polyp guidelines while 73 physicians (72.3%) founded the guideline had changed their practice and user-friendly. Most of physicians (73.4%) agreed to practical procedures recommended by guidelines. CONCLUSIONS Korean primary physicians were generally positive to the practical guidelines, as propagation of the guideline among primary physicians may improve adherence to guideline and patients care for GB polyps.