Module 1: Professional Accountability and Prescribing

Lesson 5

Using CPGs in practice

Grimshaw, Eccles and Tetroe (2004) and Dahm et al. (2009) identified several other challenges with locating and using CPGs in clinical practice, including:

• Conflict of interest among the guideline developers that are not declared appropriately
• Poor management of conflict of interest in guideline writing by experts
• Lack of transparency regarding the methods used to develop the guideline
• Insufficient consideration of relevant patient characteristics when developing the guideline
• Low quality or no evidence underlying the recommendations or guidelines cited or defined
• No consideration of the economic, patient or caregiver impact
• Guidelines for multi-morbidity conditions that are in conflict with each other
• Conflicting or confusing recommendations or guidelines across various groups for the same disease condition
• Guidelines that are not reviewed or updated when new evidence becomes available