Future directions for clinical practice guidelines: needs, lead agencies and potential dissemination strategies identified by Australian general practitioners

There has been an increasing interest in developing clinical practice guidelines for general practitioners as a means of improving health outcomes. We conducted a survey of a national random sample of Australian general practitioners in May 1995 to determine their needs, preferred formats and dissemination strategies and to identify potential lead agencies for guidelines development. Of 373 eligible general practitioners, 286 (77 per cent) returned completed questionnaires. At least 50 per cent of respondents considered guidelines in angina, psychotic illness, skin cancer and attention deficit disorder as 'extremely' or 'very' useful. However, three other topics identified as areas for future guidelines development in Better health outcomes for Australians were so rated by less than half of the general practitioners surveyed. The Australian Cancer Society and the Australian Medical Association outranked nine other organisations in terms of credibility in guidelines development. Innovative formats, including computerised medical records or text, were not highly rated, consistent with our finding that only 27 respondents (9 per cent) had Internet access. Strategies nominated as likely to increase the adoption of a guideline included a personal visit by a trained nurse, a lecture about its content or a Medicare rebate being available when a patient was managed in accordance with the guideline. Public health practitioners and nominated lead agencies are encouraged to respond to these findings and recognise potential strategies to enhance the effective dissemination of guidelines. Interventional studies are required to demonstrate and allow understanding of changes in clinical practice attributable to guidelines.