Introduction: Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) are designed to improve the quality of care and reduce unjustified individual variation in clinical practice. Knowledge of the barriers and facilitators that influence the implementation of the CPG recommendations is the first step in creating strategies to improve health outcomes. The present systematic meta-review sought to explore the barriers and facilitators for the implementation of CPGs. Methods: A search was conducted in the PubMed, Embase, Cochrane, Health System Evidence and International Guideline Library (G-I-N) databases. Systematic reviews of qualitative, quantitative or mixed-methods studies that identified barriers or facilitators for the implementation of CPGs were included. The selection of the title and abstract, the evaluation of the full text, extraction of the data and the quality assessment were carried out by two independent reviewers. To summarise the evidence, we grouped the barriers and facilitators according to the following contexts: political and social, health organisational system, guidelines, health professionals and patients. Results: Overall, 25 systematic reviews were selected. The relevant barriers in the social-political context were the absence of a leader, difficulties with teamwork and a lack of agreement with colleagues. Relevant barriers in the health system were a lack of time, financial problems and a lack of specialised personnel. Barriers of the CPGs included a lack of clarity and a lack of credibility in the evidence. Regarding the health professional, a lack of knowledge about the CPG and confidence in oneself were relevant. Regarding patients, a negative attitude towards implementation, a lack of knowledge about the CPG and sociocultural beliefs played a role. Some of the most frequent facilitators were consistent leadership, commitment of the members of the team, administrative support of the institution, existence of multidisciplinary teams, application of technology to improve the practice and education regarding the guidelines. Conclusions: The barriers and facilitators described in this review are factors that influence the implementation of evidence in clinical practice. Knowledge of these factors should contribute to the development of a theoretical basis for the creation of CPG implementation strategies to improve professional practice and health outcomes for patients.

The best available scientific evidence is required to design effective non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) to help policymakers to contain COVID-19 outbreaks. The aim of this review is to describe which NPIs used different countries and a when they use them. It also explores how NPIs impact the number of cases, the mortality, and the capacity of health systems. We consulted eight web pages of transnational organizations, 17 of international media, 99 of government institutions in the 19 countries included, and besides, we included nine studies (out of 34 identified) that met inclusion criteria. We found that some countries are focused on establishing travel restrictions, isolation of identified cases, and high-risk people. Others have a more intense combination of mandatory quarantine and other drastic social distancing measures. Some countries have implemented interventions in the first fifteen days after detecting the first case, while others have taken more than 30 days. The effectiveness of isolated NPIs may be limited, but combined interventions have shown to be effective in reducing the transmissibility of the disease, the collapse of health care services, and mortality. When the number of new cases has been controlled, it is necessary to maintain social distancing measures, self-isolation, and contact tracing for several months. The policy decision-making in this time should be aimed to optimize the opportunities of saving lives, reducing the collapse of health services, and minimizing the economic and social impact over the general population, but principally over the most vulnerable. The timing of implementing and lifting interventions is likely to have a substantial effect on those objectives.

Background: The issue of lower extremity amputation has been in the Colombian political agenda for its relationship with the armed conflict and antipersonnel mines. In 2015 the Colombian Ministry of Health published a national clinical practice guideline (CPG) for amputee patients. However, there is a need to design implementation strategies that target end-users and the context in which the CPG will be used. This study aims to identify users' perceptions about the barriers and facilitators for implementing the guideline for the care of amputee patients in a middle-income country such as Colombia. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 38 users, including patients, health workers, and administrative staff of institutions of the health system in Colombia. Individuals were purposively selected to ensure different perspectives, allowing a balance of individual positions. Results: According to participants' perceptions, barriers to implementation are classified as individual barriers (characteristics of the amputee patient and professionals), health system barriers (resource availability, timely care, information systems, service costs, and regulatory changes), and barriers related to clinical practice guidelines (utility, methodological rigour, implementation flexibility, and characteristics of the group developing the guidelines). Conclusions: Our study advances knowledge on the perceived individual and health system barriers and facilitators for the implementation of the CPG for amputee patients in Colombia. Importantly, the governance, financial, and service delivery arrangements of the Colombian health system are determining factors in implementing CPGs. For example, the financial arrangements between the insurance companies and the health care provider institutions were identified as barriers for the implementation of recommendations related to the continuity and opportunity of care of patients with amputations. The design of implementation strategies that successfully address the individual behaviours and the contextual health systems arrangements may significantly impact the health care process for amputee patients in Colombia.

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Background Evidence-based health system guidelines are pivotal tools to help outline the important financial, policy and service components recommended to achieve a sustainable and resilient health system. However, not all guidelines are readily translatable into practice and/or policy without effective and tailored implementation and adaptation techniques. This scoping review mapped the evidence related to the adaptation and implementation of health system guidelines in low- and middle-income countries. Methods We conducted a scoping review following the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology for scoping reviews. A search strategy was implemented in MEDLINE (Ovid), Embase, CINAHL, LILACS (VHL Regional Portal), and Web of Science databases in late August 2020. We also searched sources of grey literature and reference lists of potentially relevant reviews. All findings were reported following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews. Results A total of 41 studies were included in the final set of papers. Common strategies were identified for adapting and implementing health system guidelines, related barriers and enablers, and indicators of success. The most common types of implementation strategies included education, clinical supervision, training and the formation of advisory groups. A paucity of reported information was also identified related to adaptation initiatives. Barriers to and enablers of implementation and adaptation were reported across studies, including the need for financial sustainability. Common approaches to evaluation were identified and included outcomes of interest at both the patient and health system level. Conclusions The findings from this review suggest several themes in the literature and identify a need for future research to strengthen the evidence base for improving the implementation and adaptation of health system guidelines in low- and middle-income countries. The findings can serve as a future resource for researchers seeking to evaluate implementation and adaptation of health system guidelines. Our findings also suggest that more effort may be required across research, policy and practice sectors to support the adaptation and implementation of health system guidelines to local contexts and health system arrangements in low- and middle-income countries.