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GUIDELINES – KEEPING CURRENT
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GUIDELINES – KEEPING CURRENT
INTRODUCTION
Hundreds of guidelines are published each year. As noted in the Appendix section, roughly 200 clinical
practice guidelines were published in 2022 in the US alone. AAFP's past President put it best: "If I were
to read every single guideline issued by every society or medical institution, along with my other daily
responsibilities, it would be like reading all 8 volumes of Harry Potter every single day."
So, in the following question, we aimed to find out where and when clinicians are finding out about the
new guidelines being published or updated. Given the breadth and frequency of guideline publications,
we also wanted to get a better understanding of where potential gaps may be, and opportunities to
support wider dissemination of new guidelines.
We asked clinicians the following questions:
1. "How often do you use the following sources to discover when new clinical practice guidelines
have been published?"
a. Medical Society Websites
b. Medical Society Emails
c. Conferences/Tradeshows
d. Guideline Libraries (e.g., Guideline Central)
e. Colleagues/Peers
f. Employer Organizations
g. Medical News Websites
h. Pharma/Industry Reps
2. "Do you feel you are able to keep up to date with every clinical guideline published that's
related to your specialty area?"
The following section summarizes the responses and key takeaways regarding how clinicians are (or
aren't) able to keep up with current guidelines, and how they are staying informed.
