Understanding factors influencing the use of clinical guidelines in low-income and middle-income settings: a scoping review

Objective A scoping review was undertaken to determine the extent to which existing studies have examined factors influencing healthcare providers’ use of clinical guidelines in low and middle-income country (LMIC) settings and determine which factors constrain or facilitate the use of clinical guidelines by healthcare providers. Design Scoping review. Data sources The literature search was conducted using PubMed in January 2021. Eligibility criteria We identified empirical studies, published between 2011–2021 in English, which included clinicians and/or nurses as healthcare providers, used a health facility as the study site, and were located in an LMIC. Data extraction and synthesis Information extracted from the literature review was organised using themes and the findings synthesised using thematic analysis. Results The review identified five types of interacting factors that influence healthcare providers’ use of and compliance with clinical guidelines. The factors identified are organisational factors, factors relating to individual healthcare providers, attributes of the clinical guidelines, patient-related factors and institutional factors. Organisational factors can be further divided into the physical work environment, organisational culture and working conditions. The effective use of clinical guidelines in LMIC settings is greatly impacted by the contextualisation of clinical guidelines, end-user engagement and alignment of the implementation of clinical guidelines with the institutional arrangements in the broader health system. Conclusion The development and evaluation of concrete interventions is vital to facilitate the implementation of clinical guidelines and improve healthcare service quality. Further studies are necessary to examine the relative importance of the five identified factors on the effective use of clinical guidelines in different contexts.