BACKGROUND

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a significant and growing global health concern. Worldwide, 537 million adults have diabetes and 206 million of them are from the Western Pacific Region1. Local prevalence continues to remain high at 7.5%, with 4,303,899 adult Filipinos suffering from diabetes in 2021. DM significantly contributes to the growing burden of chronic kidney disease (CKD) worldwide with about 50% of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) being due to diabetic nephropathy alone. Likewise, 60% of Filipinos on maintenance dialysis have ESRD due to DM and hypertension. The primary care setting is the initial point of contact between healthcare providers and patients with type 2 diabetes, hence, the development of clinical practice guidelines that will provide guidance in caring for patients with stable complications of diabetes. The guideline is the first of 3 that are being developed by the Philippine Academy of Family Physicians for the diagnosis and management of adult patients with type 2 diabetes and stable microvascular complications – nephropathy, retinopathy and neuropathy.

This guideline aims to provide evidence-based recommendations on the diagnosis and management of adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and early stage CKD and is divided into 5 main sections – Clinical Assessment, Diagnostic Tests, Pharmacologic Treatment, Non-pharmacologic Treatment and Patient Outcomes.

The method of guideline development followed the ADAPTE process. The Technical Working Group identified 19 key questions after consultation with colleagues and patients. Recommendations were adopted from high-quality clinical practice guidelines whenever applicable for most of the key clinical questions. On the other hand, the De Novo method of evidence review was used to answer key clinical questions for which recommendations from reviewed guidelines were not available. A modified GRADEPro was used in assessing the quality of evidence – high, moderate, low or very low. Following external review by a nephrologist, the draft recommendations were sent to the members of the consensus panel. Voting on whether to include or not by the consensus panel was facilitated to determine the strength of each recommendation – strong, moderate or weak.

After reviewing 3 high-quality clinical practice guidelines and the current evidence, the technical working group was able to develop 40 recommendations for the 19 key clinical questions.

practice guideline ; literature ; diagnosis ; endometriosis

Objectives: Adherence to clinical practice guidelines (CPG) has been shown to reduce inter-physician practice variation and improve quality of care. This study evaluated guideline adherence of physicians in two tertiary public hospitals to local CPG on COVID-19. Methods: This was a multicenter, retrospective chart review, rapid assessment method study. Guideline adherence and non-adherence (overuse and underuse) to 15 strong recommendations in the prevailing Philippine COVID-19 Living Recommendations were assessed among a sample of patients admitted in two centers from July to October 2021. Differences in adherence across COVID-19 disease severities and managing hospital units were analyzed. Results: A total of 723 patient charts from two centers were reviewed. Guideline adherence to dexamethasone use among patients with hypoxemia is 91.4% (95% CI 88.6 to 93.6) with 9.2% overuse. Tocilizumab was underused in 52.2% of patients with indications to receive the drug. There was overuse of empiric antibiotics in 43.6% of patients without suspicion of bacterial coinfection. Lowest adherence to antibiotic use was seen among patients with critical disease severity and those managed in the intensive care unit. None of the other non-recommended treatment modalities were given. Conclusion Management of COVID-19 in both centers was generally adherent to guideline recommendations. We detected high underuse of tocilizumab probably related to the global supply shortage during the study period and high overuse of antibiotics in patients without suspicion of bacterial coinfection. While the results of this study cannot be generalized in other healthcare settings, we recommend the application of similar rapid assessment studies in guideline adherence evaluation as a quality improvement tool and to identify issues with resource utilization especially during public health emergencies.
Guideline Adherence ; COVID-19 ; Quality Improvement

Objective: To determine the rate of the appropriateness of the requested CT and MRI procedures in the Outpatient Department of a tertiary hospital in the Philippines from January to June 2018 using the American College of Radiology Appropriateness Criteria (ACR-AC).

Methods: This retrospective research reviewed outpatient CT and MR imaging requests and cross-referenced with the corresponding ACR-AC guideline available for the written clinical diagnosis.

Results: Four hundred thirty-six (436) (56%) of the 774 retrieved requests were CT scan studies, while the remaining 338 (44%) are MR imaging procedures. Cross-referencing with ACR-AC, the rate of appropriateness across all patients is high at 96.6%, with a 95% confidence interval of 95.0% and 97.6%. The rates were not significantly different between MRI and CT (p-value = 0.4502). Likewise, there was no significant difference in rates of appropriateness for the body parts abdomen, cranial, chest, and spine (p-value = 0.6502).

Conclusion: Although the results were high, relative to the few available international studies, the importance and potential of the ACR-AC cannot be disregarded. The ACR-AC serves as a guide in selecting the appropriate imaging test given a clinical situation. This may equate to better patient management, considering all patient-related factors.

Key Words: diagnostic imaging; reviews, appropriateness; practice guideline

Background. A 2017 situational analysis assessing Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPG) development in the Philippines revealed CPGs of inconsistent quality. In response, the Department of Health (DOH)-Philippine Health Insurance Corporation Manual for CPG Development was developed to outline the standardized steps of the CPG development process. To implement this, technically qualified institutions and individuals should be commissioned.

Objective. To identify qualified institutions and individuals and map out their technical skills and potential for capacit building in CPG development

Methods. Mixed methods were used in this cross-sectional study. A snowballing method identified specific institutions and individuals. Self-administered surveys and key informant interviews were conducted to determine competence, strengths, and gaps in the development of CPGs.

Results. A total of 74 individuals from 45 institutions with competencies in CPG development were identified. Of the 45 institutions, 72% were non-clinical, with roughly half working on formal research. Of the 74 individuals, 96% possessed relevant knowledge and skills and 85% already provided training on CPG development topics. Around half of the respondents have been part of a CPG development task force. Only about half were able to incorporate social concepts of equity, and only one-third had experience in managing conflicts of interest.

Conclusion. Qualified institutions and individuals identified in this capacity mapping can be tapped in future CPG development in the country. Incorporation of social concepts and management of conflicts of interest still need to be ensured.

Clinical practice guideline is defined as “statements that include recommendations intended to optimize patient care that are informed by a systematic review of evidence and an assessment of the benefits and harms of alternative care options”. It includes recommendations that are intended to optimize patient care. They are the best source of evidence for busy clinicians and may be the most efficient type of evidence to guide decision making in family practice.
Practice Guideline

Evidence-based recommendations on intrapartum care are important to ensure the safety of mothers and neonates. The objective of this study was to compare two established guidelines for intrapartum care to provide clinicians with more comprehensive recommendations on intrapartum management. We carried out a descriptive analysis of guidelines from the Integrated Management of Pregnancy and Childbirth (IMPAC) guidelines published by the World Health Organization, and the Perinatal Care Manual published by the Ministry of Health Malaysia, on intrapartum care to determine differences, if any, with regards to management. Latent, active and the second phase of labour are defined differently in both guidelines. Both guidelines showed high similarity in the steps of clinical management for all phases of labour but differed in foetal monitoring methods, indications for episiotomy, mood and behavior assessment, universal precautions, pain management, and placental disposal. Both guidelines had similar managements for most of the problems encountered during the intrapartum period except for preterm labour and multiple births which have substantial differences. Malaysian guidelines highlight additional systems such as the red alert system, and referral and retrieval system, which would enhance the quality of intrapartum management. The IMPAC guidelines emphasize supportive care, birth companionship, maternal care and monitoring up to one hour after placental delivery; and home birth management; these are inadequately explained or lacking in Malaysian guidelines. From the comparison, it was seen that substantial variation exists in intrapartum management between both guidelines that indicates the need for better evidences to synthesize a more comprehensive set of guidelines for the improvement in intrapartum care.
Guideline [Publication Type] ; World Health Organization ; Malaysia

Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Cardiovascular Diseases/prevention & control* ; Guideline Adherence ; Humans ; Primary Prevention ; Risk Factors

Objectives: Adherence to clinical practice guidelines (CPG) has been shown to reduce inter-physician practice variation and improve quality of care. This study evaluated guideline adherence of physicians in two tertiary public hospitals to local CPG on COVID-19. Methods: This was a multicenter, retrospective chart review, rapid assessment method study. Guideline adherence and non-adherence (overuse and underuse) to 15 strong recommendations in the prevailing Philippine COVID-19 Living Recommendations were assessed among a sample of patients admitted in two centers from July to October 2021. Differences in adherence across COVID-19 disease severities and managing hospital units were analyzed. Results: A total of 723 patient charts from two centers were reviewed. Guideline adherence to dexamethasone use among patients with hypoxemia is 91.4% (95% CI 88.6 to 93.6) with 9.2% overuse. Tocilizumab was underused in 52.2% of patients with indications to receive the drug. There was overuse of empiric antibiotics in 43.6% of patients without suspicion of bacterial coinfection. Lowest adherence to antibiotic use was seen among patients with critical disease severity and those managed in the intensive care unit. None of the other non-recommended treatment modalities were given. Conclusion Management of COVID-19 in both centers was generally adherent to guideline recommendations. We detected high underuse of tocilizumab probably related to the global supply shortage during the study period and high overuse of antibiotics in patients without suspicion of bacterial coinfection. While the results of this study cannot be generalized in other healthcare settings, we recommend the application of similar rapid assessment studies in guideline adherence evaluation as a quality improvement tool and to identify issues with resource utilization especially during public health emergencies
Guideline Adherence ; COVID-19 ; Quality Improvement

PURPOSE: To evaluate intra- and inter-observer variability and guideline adherence amongst pediatricians in treating children aged between 4 and 18 years referred with recurrent abdominal pain (RAP) without red flags. METHODS: The first part of the study is a retrospective single-center cohort study. The diagnostic work-ups of eight pediatricians were compared to the national guidelines. Intra- and inter-observer variability were examined by Cramer's V test. Intra-observer variability was defined as the amount of variation within a pediatrician and inter-observer variability as the amount of variation between pediatricians in the application of diagnostic work-up in children with RAP. Prospectively, the same pediatricians were requested to provide a report on their management strategy with a fictitious case to prove similarities in retrospective diagnostic work-up. RESULTS: A total of 10 patients per pediatrician were analyzed. Retrospectively, a (very) weak association between pediatricians' diagnostic work-ups was found (0.22), which implies high inter-observer variability. The association between intra-observer diagnostic was moderate (range, 0.35–0.46). The Cramer's V of 0.60 in diagnostic work-up between pediatricians in the fictitious case implied the presence of a moderately strong association and lower inter-observer variability than in the retrospective study. Adherence to the guideline was 66.8%. CONCLUSION: We found a high intra- and inter-observer variability and moderate guideline adherence in daily clinical practice amongst pediatricians in treating children with RAP in a teaching hospital.
Abdominal Pain ; Child ; Cohort Studies ; Guideline Adherence ; Hospitals, Teaching ; Humans ; Observer Variation ; Prospective Studies ; Retrospective Studies