According to a study published online yesterday, most clinical practice guidelines are lacking in their compliance with standards set by the Institute of Medicine (IOM).
Researchers examined 130 guidelines from the National Guideline Clearinghouse (NGC) website in order to verify compliance with 18 IOM standards. The average number of satisfied standards was 8 out of 18.
Additionally, improvements to compliance have been severely lacking over the past two decades.
Dr. Silverman Comments
This is a very touchy subject among doctors and medical professionals.
I am a big fan of standardization – it saves lives and money. There are certain problems for which it makes a lot of sense to create guidelines. Creating these standards will help doctors in the upcoming era of doctor shortage when physician extenders such as NPs and PAs start to care for an ever increasing number of patients.
However, standardization can lead to a loss of ingenuity and creative thinking. I don’t want a committee telling me I am treating my patients incorrectly. If medicine was as easy as a cookbook then it wouldn’t take years of training and practice. It’s important to leave room for doctors to be able to think independently and come up with innovative ideas when square pegs won’t fit in round holes.
As for as a lack of adherence in specialty societies, it has been said that “getting doctors to act as a group is like herding cats.” There is a lot of truth in that statement.
Related Sources:
Medscape.com