Physicians' Attitudes Toward Guidelines for Stroke: A Survey of Korean Neurologists

Abstract

Background and PurposeClinical practice guidelines (CPGs) are regarded as an essential guidance tool for practicing physicians. We surveyed physicians in Korea in order to evaluate their attitudes toward the Korean CPGs for stroke.MethodsWe obtained participation agreement for our survey from 27 centers of the 33 most actively contributing to the Korean Stroke Registry. A total of 174 neurologists participated in a questionnaire interview regarding their attitudes toward CPGs for stroke.ResultsOf 174 participating neurologists, 65 (37.4%) were stroke neurologists. The average age was 33.6±7.1 and 49 (28.2%) were female. Most of the respondents held positive attitudes and opinions regarding the use of the guidelines, whereas only a small percentage (14.9%) responded negatively. More than 60% of the physicians in the survey reported adherence to the Korean CPGs in dyslipidemia management for the secondary prevention of stroke.ConclusionsThe positive attitudes and opinions toward the guidelines imply that physicians' attitudes should not be regarded as a potential barrier to the implementation of Korean CPGs for stroke practiced by general physicians.

Critical attitudes and beliefs towards guidelines amongst palliative care professionals – results from a national survey

“…Our study on palliative care professionals shows an overall similar dominance of positive attitudes and beliefs concerning guidelines compared to results found in other studies outside palliative care [ 14 , 16 – 29 ], which focus on physicians [ 14 , 16 – 18 , 23 , 25 – 32 ], nurses [ 21 , 22 ] or both [ 19 , 20 , 24 ]. We did not find any data published for palliative care professionals’ attitudes towards guidelines in general.…”

“…Forty-one percent had general problems in the application of guidelines, the main specific doubt was the difficulty to change already existing routine treatments (57%). Other doubts regarding practical aspects of guideline implementation were not assessed, but lack of time and medical resources were reported by others [ 23 , 25 , 29 ]. In an online survey from Estonia, Taba et al [ 29 ] showed that time was the barrier identified by most physicians (42%), followed by lack of medical resources for implementation (32%).…”

“…Although there were a number of quantitative surveys published since 2000 on health professionals’ attitudes towards guidelines in Asia [ 23 ], Australia [ 44 ], the US and Canada [ 20 , 24 , 32 , 34 , 45 ], and Europe [ 18 , 21 , 22 , 25 , 29 , 46 ], there were only four nationwide studies on health professionals’ attitudes towards guidelines published in Germany [ 16 , 26 , 27 , 47 ]. To our knowledge, this was the first study investigating palliative care professionals’ attitudes.…”

Impact of Guidelines on Clinical Practice

“…In a survey conducted in 2011, Korean neurologists were reported to support (ie, had positive attitudes at a frequency of 85%) toward the use of the national guidelines, and >60% of the physicians reported adherence to the Korean stroke guideline in dyslipidemia management for the secondary prevention of stroke. 33 We speculate that the spread and implementation of the stroke CPG in our national language may have improved physician adherence to the guidelines. 13,33 Limitations of this study are acknowledged.…”

“…33 We speculate that the spread and implementation of the stroke CPG in our national language may have improved physician adherence to the guidelines. 13,33 Limitations of this study are acknowledged. First, this is a multicenter study of 12 university hospitals or regional stroke centers in Korea, and thus, generalizability of the study results may be limited.…”