Correspondence to: Dr J Grimshaw, Health Services Research Unit, University of Aberdeen, Drew Kay Wing, Polwarth Building, Foresterhill, Aberdeen AB9 2ZD The Effective Health Care bulletins have concentrated on providing systematic reviews of the research evidence on clinical and cost effectiveness to help inform decision makers and clinicians in the NHS. However, providing information by itself is rarely sufficient to stimulate corresponding change in practice. Various implementation strategies can be used to promote the use of research evidence. One approach which has received growing attention and support is the development and implementation of clinical practice guidelines.' 2 These are \"systematically developed statements to assist practitioner and patient decisions about appropriate health care for specific clinical circumstances.\"3 Some previous bulletins argued for the incorporation of the evidence on effectiveness into guidelines,4 5and it has been argued that healthcare commissioners should purchase guidelines or protocols rather than simple procedures.6 This paper examines the evidence on whether practice guidelines can change the behaviour of health professionals and how best to introduce them into clinical practice. The characteristics of high quality guidelines and how purchasers might use guidelines in commissioning are also considered.

https://qualitysafety.bmj.com/content/qhc/4/1/55.full.pdf

Developing and implementing clinical practice guidelines.

OBJECTIVE To estimate internists' use of disease prevention and health promotion activities, and to explore demographic, professional, behavioral, psychological, cognitive, and organizational factors associated with the use of such practices. DESIGN Mail survey. SETTING AND SUBJECTS A sample of 2610 members and fellows of the American College of Physicians (ACP) participated in the study. They engaged in patient care activities more than 20 hours per week and were stratified by gender and region. They lived in four geographic areas of the United States (Northeast, Southeast, Central, and West), comprising 21 ACP regions. MEASUREMENTS A questionnaire requesting background information as well as information about personal health; record keeping; use of immunizations (pneumococcal, influenza, tetanus, hepatitis B); use of screening tests and procedures for detecting cancer (breast examination, Papanicolaou smear, stool occult blood test) and other diseases (electrocardiograms, cholesterol level tests, chest radiographs); and behavioral counseling to promote health (in the areas of smoking, exercise, and alcohol and seat belt use). MAIN RESULTS Internists used effective preventive interventions less frequently and ineffective practices more frequently than experts recommend. Internists' use of health promotion and disease prevention activities is associated with habit, attitude, and a lack of adequate knowledge. Younger physician age, general internal medicine practice, and personal health promotion and disease prevention practices were strongly associated with more appropriate use of recommended practices (P less than 0.01). CONCLUSIONS Internists' use of disease prevention and health promotion activities falls short of expert recommendations. Programs to improve the delivery of preventive services might be aimed at improving physicians' personal health practices, might be directed toward patients, and might include the development of effective systems to remind physicians.

Internists' Practices in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention: A Survey

OBJECTIVES: To consider the effects of contamination on the magnitude and statistical significance (or precision) of the estimated effect of an educational intervention, to investigate the mechanisms of contamination, and to consider how contamination can be avoided. DATA SOURCES: Major electronic databases were searched up to May 2005. METHODS: An exploratory literature search was conducted. The results of trials included in previous relevant systematic reviews were then analysed to see whether studies that avoided contamination resulted in larger effect estimates than those that did not. Experts' opinions were elicited about factors more or less likely to lead to contamination. We simulated contamination processes to compare contamination biases between cluster and individually randomised trials. Statistical adjustment was made for contamination using Complier Average Causal Effect analytic methods, using published and simulated data. The bias and power of cluster and individually randomised trials were compared, as were Complier Average Causal Effect, intention-to-treat and per protocol methods of analysis. RESULTS: Few relevant studies quantified contamination. Experts largely agreed on where contamination was more or less likely. Simulation of contamination processes showed that, with various combinations of timing, intensity and baseline dependence of contamination, cluster randomised trials might produce biases greater than or similar to those of individually randomised trials. Complier Average Causal Effect analyses produced results that were less biased than intention-to-treat or per protocol analyses. They also showed that individually randomised trials would in most situations be more powerful than cluster randomised trials despite contamination. CONCLUSIONS: The probability, nature and process of contamination should be considered when designing and analysing controlled trials of educational interventions in health. Cluster randomisation may or may not be appropriate and should not be uncritically assumed always to be a solution. Complier Average Causal Effect models are an appropriate way to adjust for contamination if it can be measured. When conducting such trials in future, it is a priority to report the extent, nature and effects of contamination.

/pdf/contamination-in-trials-of-educational-interventions-ihtvl6aksl.pdf

Contamination in trials of educational interventions

Objective: To estimate internists' use of disease prevention and health promotion activities, and to explore demographic, professional, behavioral, psychological, cognitive, and organizational fact...

Internists' Practices in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention

Recent studies have documented that physician compliance with recommended periodic health screening improves with reminders to physicians. These reminders, however, are often costly to maintain and modify. This study investigates the influence of a microcomputer tickler system on the ordering of mammograms. All women (N = 1262) aged 40 years and older who made visits to an outpatient office during a 6-month period were randomly assigned to one of two groups. For the experimental group, the date of the last mammogram ordered and recorded in the clinical database was printed on the encounter form generated for each patient visit. No information regarding previous mammograms was printed for patients in the control group. Women in the experimental group were more likely to have a mammogram ordered during the study period (19% compared with 12%, P = .001) and, as a result, were more likely to be in compliance with mammography guidelines at the study's completion (27% compared with 21%, P = .011). Microcomputerized data storage and retrieval systems may help increase physicians' attention to preventive health screening recommendations.

Microcomputer-generated reminders. Improving the compliance of primary care physicians with mammography screening guidelines.

We monitored physician performance of stool occult blood testing and breast exams during health maintenance visits of patients aged 50 or greater, to assess the impact of a physician education program and the use of a health screening flow sheet on performance of these health screening procedures. During the baseline study period, use of these procedures was documented for only about 40% of patients. A physician education program (conferences reviewing appropriate health maintenance screening procedures, and information on the use of a specific health screening flow sheet) did not significantly change the rate of documented physician performance of these procedures. After a health screening flow sheet was introduced into the medical record, the rate of documented performance of these screening tests increased. However, despite the presence of the screening flow sheet in the patient record, most screening evaluations were documented only in the progress notes. These results suggest that the screening flow sheet serves primarily as a memory prompting device. The usefulness of the flow sheet as a patient data storage device appears questionable.

The impact of a health screening flow sheet on the performance and documentation of health screening procedures.

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The impact of a health screening flow sheet on the performance and documentation of health screening procedures.