Are clinical guidelines applied in routine daily practice?: a French regional survey of physicians' clinical practices in lung cancer management (EPOTRA).

BACKGROUND

In 2003 the French government initiated a large cancer plan. This program requested the latest edition of local guidelines in each of France's administrative regions. Since their creation, none of these guidelines has been assessed in the conditions of daily clinical practice.

METHOD

A survey was performed to assess physicians' integrated knowledge of local guidelines in the Rhône-Alpes region in France. It included 4 patient cases with accompanying multiple-choice questions. Responses were judged as appropriate or inappropriate according to the 2007 edition of local guidelines.

RESULTS

Four hundred one physicians were contacted. The response rate was 56%. Among the responding physicians, 71 were eligible for analysis (those who were board certified in oncology and pulmonology and practiced thoracic oncology only). The rate of physicians who applied guidelines was 55%, 54%, 63%, and 25% for cases 1 to 4, respectively. There were no major differences in the responses between oncologists and pulmonologists. However significant differences were noted between physicians working in public health centers (cases 1 and 2) and those who practiced in private centers (cases 3 and 4) (appropriate response rate, 68% [case 3] vs. 36% [case 1] [P = .0494] for case 1; 28% [case 4] vs. 9% [case 2] (P = .0022)). Finally, no differences in physician responses were found in the administrative departments within the administrative region.

CONCLUSION

The results of the survey illustrate that regional guidelines are not routinely applied in daily clinical practice. This nonapplication of regional guidelines by physicians may be due to either a lack of knowledge of updates to guidelines or a lack of agreement with them.