Predicting physician guideline compliance: an assessment of motivators and perceived barriers

Although clinical practice guidelines are widely accepted as "best practices," provider compliance remains low.

To examine the relationship between providers' behavioral intentions and their compliance with practice guidelines; to assess the impact of perceived barriers that were most inhibiting to compliance; and to examine the ability of factors in the Physician Guideline Compliance Model to predict intention to comply and compliance with guidelines implemented at specific practice sites.

Survey research methods were used to assess effects of antecedents (attitudes, subjective norms, past behavior, and perceived behavioral control) on providers' intentions to comply and compliance with clinical practice guidelines. Provider survey I was conducted at the time of guideline introduction and survey II 4 months after implementation.

Scores for the antecedents to behavior and behavioral intention reflected favorable responses toward the use of guidelines. The mean self-reported compliance behavior was 65%, whereas compliance as assessed by chart review was 54%. Approximately 68% of the variance in the physicians' behavioral intentions was accounted for by variables included in the Physician Guideline Compliance Model. A significant negative correlation was found between perceived barriers and self-reported behavior but not between perceived barriers and chart-review-assessed behavior.

Some variables, particularly perceived barriers to guideline implementation, predicted a provider's practice intentions and self-reported behavior. Future guideline intervention efforts should identify and reduce these barriers to guideline compliance prior to implementation.