Asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease guideline implementation: lessons learned on recruitment of primary care physicians to a knowledge translation study.

BACKGROUND

Implementation of current clinical practice guidelines in asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is suboptimal. New implementation strategies should be developed and evaluated.

METHODS

The authors report the rationale and planned methods of a project that sought to use a multifaceted knowledge translation intervention consisting of interactive education, mentorship through quality circles and practice-based tools in primary care to address key asthma and COPD care gaps. The present study was aborted due to inadequate primary care physician recruitment. Accordingly, the authors provide a critical review of their recruitment strategies and discuss alternative approaches and examples based on previous literature.

DISCUSSION

These practical lessons and discussion seek to inform researchers involved in designing and recruiting for future knowledge translation studies addressing chronic disease management in primary care.