The Use of Clinical Practice Guidelines in Hospital: A Narrative Review

Abstract

<span class="fontstyle0">Background: </span><span class="fontstyle2">Clinical guidelines have been the key resource for clinicians around the world to guide clinical care. The ways in which these<br />guidelines are written and promoted to clinicians predict their uptake in day-to-day practice. We sought to evaluate the factors that determine<br />good clinical guidelines and their uptake among medical practitioners.<br /></span><span class="fontstyle0">Results: </span><span class="fontstyle2">Key predictors of guideline uptake include clinician intrinsic factors such as awareness, familiarity, disagreement, and inertia of practice.<br />Extrinsic factors pertaining to the patient and health system also predict guideline uptake. While significant benefits have been shown in the<br />literature by virtue of guidelines, there are minimal disadvantages.<br /></span><span class="fontstyle0">Conclusion: </span><span class="fontstyle2">There are many factors involved in predicting the use of clinical guidelines in practice. It is essential to identify these and continue<br />to support their use, as appropriately designed clinical practice guidelines can provide immense benefits to all those involved in the health system.</span>