Purpose: The implementation of the general practitioners' (GPs) guideline for palliative care released in 2007 with consent of the developing group was accompanied by an anonymous and voluntary survey designed to assess acceptance and feasibility of the recommendations. 60 quality circles of the GP-based care program in Hesse which are run by the PMV research group were used for guideline implementation.
Material and methods: The quality of the palliative care quality circle meeting itself was checked with a standardized questionnaire (feedback, n = 473 of 515 participating GPs). After several weeks, the follow-up questioning on acceptance of the corresponding guideline was performed (n = 391 of 440 attendees) using twelve items to evaluate the guideline recommendations. The closed questions were appraised employing a Likert scale and the open questions after classifying the free text in categories.
Results: 96% of the respondents considered palliative medicine to be important in daily routine. The majority agreed with form and content of this CME meeting (feedback, response rate 91%). The complexity, handling, and practical relevance of the guideline were evaluated positively (response rate 88%). 82% of GPs reported that they would recommend the guideline to colleagues. Specific, practical guideline recommendations on (non)pharmacological strategies in treating dyspnea, on reducing xerostomia and on comedication in the case of opioid treatment were confirmed by 80-94% of the participants, and 75-92% rated these recommendations as practical.
Conclusion: The relevance of palliative care in daily routine was shown by the responses evaluating the quality circle session. The grade of acceptance of the guideline is comparable to the other GPs' guidelines with focus on pharmacotherapy. 10-13% of the respondents were not able to judge the relevance nor the practicability of selected recommendations. Future implementation should therefore consider attitude and experience with palliative care. To date, the questionnaires have not been designed to evaluate individual adherence to palliative care guideline.