Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) are statements that include recommendations intended to optimize patient care. They serve as a link between public policy, best practices, local contexts, and patient choice.1
CPGs may be termed as practice policies, clinical guidelines, standards of care, protocols, best practices, care pathway, clinical pathway, or standards for clinical practice.1 Research shows that barriers exist in other health-care disciplines; however, there are gaps in research for barriers to implementation of CPGs in dental hygiene.2
There is little evidence of how CPGs can be successfully implemented, even though their benefits are widely known.2,4
Investigating the barriers and facilitators that affect clinicians’ ability to implement CPGs will provide insight into how they can effectively and efficiently improve public knowledge and respect for dental hygiene.
Are there barriers to implementing CPGs in your dental hygiene practice? What facilitates your ability to implement CPGs as a clinician? This understanding may ultimately lead to continuity of care, professional calibration, and comprehensive care for the recipients of dental hygiene care.3,4
Currently, research is taking place to understand the barriers and facilitators that affect dental hygienists’ ability to implement clinical practice guidelines.
If you would like to take part in this research, please use this link:
https://mcphs.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_740YXXjQqhzRBPM
This research has been granted IRB Approval # IRB051521G at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Science. If there are any questions, please contact the survey administrator [email protected] or [email protected].
References
1. Berg AO, Atkins D, Tierney, W. Clinical practice guidelines in practice and education. J of Gen Int Med, 1997, 12(S2), S25–S33. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1525-1497.12.s2.4.x
2. Kredo T, Bernhardsson, S, Machingaidze, S, Young, T, Louw, Q, Ochodo, E, Grimmer, K. Guide to clinical practice guidelines: The current state of play. Int J for Qual in Hth Cre, 2016, 28(1), 122–128. https://doi.org/10.1093/intqhc/mzv115
3. Carrasco-Labra A, Brignardello-Petersen R, Glick M, Guyatt, GH, Neumann, I, Azarpazhooh, A. A practical approach to evidence-based dentistry: VII. J of the Am Dent Assoc, 2015, 146(5), 327-336.e1. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adaj.2015.03.015
4. Spallek H, Song, M, Polk, DE, Bekhuis, T, Frantsve-Hawley, J, Aravamudhan, K. Barriers to implementing evidence-based clinical guidelines: A survey of early adopters. J of Evid-Bas Dent Pract, 2010, 10(4), 195–206. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebdp.2010.05.013
