Clinical practice guidelines: qualitative study of their implementation in the Chilean health system

Objective. Characterize the implementation process, barriers, and facilitators of evidence-based recommendations in the context of developing clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) generated by the Ministry of Health of Chile, in order to make proposals to optimize the process. Methods. Qualitative "action-oriented research" study. Nineteen semi-structured interviews were conducted and nine discussion groups were organized at various levels of the Chilean public health system. The analysis was conducted using Atlas.tir (R) software and manually, in a content analysis framework, by categorizing and coding information according to pre-specified dimensions and with the inclusion of emerging categories where relevant. Results. The main challenge mentioned with regard to implementing recommendations is the lack of an explicit and structured process. Actors in the health system recognize difficulties specific to the context in which the recommendations are followed. In this unprecedented institutional review, participants suggested a series of strategies that could be implemented to overcome these challenges, presented in a management flow chart optimized for the development and implementation of CPGs. This process has raised awareness of the importance of implementing CPGs in Chile. Conclusion. After characterizing the implementation process, barriers, and facilitators, a plan to implement recommendations was developed in order to guide and monitor the process. It would facilitate the implementation of strategies and the introduction of improvements to the CPG development process if key informants inside and outside of the Ministry of Health were included in the review process. Studies of this kind should be conducted with physicians and patients in order to complement the collected information.