Improving Access to Cancer Guidelines: Feedback from Health Care Professionals

Purpose: We examined access to locally developed and other available clinical practice guidelines (cpgs) for the management of cancer and evaluated how to improve uptake. Methods: A 12-question online survey was administered to 772 members of 12 multidisciplinary tumour teams in a Canadian provincial oncology program. The teams are composed of physicians, surgeons, nurses, allied health professionals, and researchers involved in the provision of cancer care across the province. Many of these individuals construct or provide input into the provincial cpgs. The questionnaires were administered online and were completed voluntarily. Results: Responses were received from 232 individuals, a response rate of 30.1%. Most respondents (75.1%) indicated they actively referenced cpgs for cancer treatment. Of the 177 respondents who identified barriers to cpg access, 24.9% said that the cause was being too busy; 24.3% and 22.6% cited the user-unfriendliness of the Web site and a lack of awareness about the cpgs. When asked about innovative changes that could be made to improve access, the creation of cpg summary documents was identified as the most effective change (46.3%). The creation of summary documents was ranked highest by physicians, surgeons, and nurses. Conclusions: Clinical practice guidelines are important tools for standardizing treatment protocols and improving outcomes in health care systems, but support for their use is variable among health care professionals. We have identified barriers to—and potential mitigating strategies for—more widespread access to cpgs by the various health professions involved in cancer care. Local creation of succinct and easily accessible cpgs was identified as the single most effective way to enhance access by health care professionals.