BACKGROUND The Taiwanese government began reimbursement for smoking cessation in 2002. Certification from a training program was required for physicians who wanted reimbursement. The program certified 6,009 physicians till 2007. The objective of this study is to evaluate the short- and long term efficacy of the training program. METHODS For short term evaluation, all trainees in 2007 were rec...

BACKGROUND Little is known regarding barriers to guideline adherence in the nephrology community. We set out to identify perceived barriers to evidence-based medicine (EBM) and measurement of continuous quality indicators (CQI) in an international cohort of peritoneal dialysis (PD) practitioners. METHODS Subscribers to an online nephrology education site (Nephrology Now) were invited to parti...

Combination antiemetic regimens targeting multiple molecular pathways associated with emesis have become the standard of care for prevention of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) related to highly and moderately emetogenic chemotherapies. Antiemetic consensus guidelines from several professional societies are widely available and updated regularly as new data emerges. Unfortunately...

OBJECTIVE To compare the effectiveness of two educational courses aiming to improve adherence to recommendations in a Dutch physiotherapy practice guideline for hip and knee OA. METHODS Physiotherapists (PTs) from three regions in The Netherlands were invited to participate in a study comparing an interactive workshop (IW) with conventional education (CE). Participants were randomly assigned ...

Background Despite the huge numbers of the internationally produced and implemented Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPGs), the compliance with them is still low in health care. This study aimed at assessing the attitudes of Palestinian health-care professionals toward the most perceived factors influencing the adherence to the CPG for Diabetes Mellitus in the Primary Health-care centers of the Mi...

OBJECTIVES To identify reasons for poor adherence to antibiotic intravenous-to-oral switch guidelines and to explore the possible solutions. To rate the importance of the barriers and solutions identified, as perceived by a multidisciplinary expert panel. METHODS Three-round Delphi study in an expert panel comprising doctors, nurses and pharmacists, with concurrent semi-structured interviews....

BACKGROUND Although guidelines for antiarrhythmic drug therapy in atrial fibrillation (AF) were published in 2006, it remains uncertain whether adherence to these guidelines affects patient outcomes. METHODS AND RESULTS We retrospectively evaluated the records of 5976 consecutive AF patients who were prescribed at least 1 antiarrhythmic drug between 2006 and 2013. Patients with 1 or more pres...

This guideline is an update of the post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) guideline published by the Southern African HIV Clinicians Society in 2008. It updates the recommendations on the use of antiretroviral medications to prevent individuals who have been exposed to a potential HIV source, via either occupational or non-occupational exposure, from becoming infected with HIV. No distinction is made ...

Despite advances in drug treatment, outcomes in asthma remain unsatisfactory. Often overlooked in developing treatment strategies are important factors that affect outcomes in asthma, namely behavioral issues such as the low rate of patient adherence to the prescribed treatment regimen, inadequate physician-patient communication, and inconsistent implementation of evidence-based treatment guide...

To date, the focus of research on guidelines has been directed toward professionals, and hospitals have merely served as the context. Little research has been performed on the dilemmas of guideline adherence in hospitals, as a setting in which multiple professional guidelines have to be implemented simultaneously; also, it is still unclear which clinical guidelines have to be aligned with other...