FACTORS INFLUENCING ADHERENCE OF PHYSICIANS TO CLINICAL PRACTICE GUIDELINES ON LABORATORY TESTS IN TYPE II DIABETES MELLITUS PATIENTS IN FEU-NRMF MEDICAL CENTER

ABSTRACT: One of the well-known non-adherence to clinical practice guidelines of physicians today is with regards to requesting laboratory exams. This brings about unnecessary burdens to the patients and harms the quality of health service. Factors that affect the adherence of physicians on clinical practice guidelines on requesting laboratory examinations for cases of diabetes mellitus was examined. A cross sectional analytical study was used to determine the factors affecting laboratory requisition of physicians. The participants were consultants from the Internal Medicine and Community and Family Medicine Department of FEU-NRMF. The questionnaire used consists of 3 parts with a total of 16 questions. Adherence and non-adherence to standard guidelines was defined as a total practice score of 0 to 13 and 14 to 20, respectively. Statistical analyses included one-way ANOVA, T-test, and Fisher's exact test with alpha set at 0.05. The overall adherence was 58.62% while the overall mean was 13.97. There was no sufficient evidence that there was a difference in scores among the different lengths of practice (p-value = 0.30968) and between the two specialization (p-value = 0.27521). There was no sufficient evidence that there was an association between the length of practice and adherence to Standard Guidelines (p-value = 0.1427) and between specialization and adherence to Standard Guidelines (p-value = 0.0914). It was found out that physicians are generally non-adherent to clinical practice guidelines on requesting for laboratory examinations for Diabetes Mellitus cases. Considerations on the financial condition of the patient was the most cited reason for non-adherence.

Department of Community & Family Medicine