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Survey Examines How Clinicians Use NCCN Guidelines

By Jennifer Hinkel, NCCN e-Bulletin Editor-in-Chief

A survey of NCCN Guidelines users indicates that while the majority of physicians and nurses (along with other clinicians) consult the NCCN Guidelines on a regular basis, they may be using the NCCN Guidelines for different purposes according to their roles as members of a multi-disciplinary cancer care team.

On June 26, 2009, the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology® User Survey was sent to approximately 51,000 individuals who had engaged with NCCN by registering on NCCN.org or participating in NCCN educational programs. Data was collected through August 3, 2009. A total of 1,610 respondents, including 889 physicians and 199 nurses completed the survey.

Both physician and nurse respondents were frequent users of the NCCN Guidelines. Approximately 90% of physicians and 85% of nurses consulted the NCCN Guidelines at least once a month for frequently occurring cancers. However, while both physicians and nurses often refer to the NCCN Guidelines, their patterns of use differ as they use NCCN Guidelines for purposes specific to their roles in caring for cancer patients.

For example, nurses were more than twice as likely as physicians to use the NCCN Guidelines 75% to 100% of the time when discussing treatments with patients. Thirty-two percent of nurses reported using the NCCN Guidelines in 75% to 100% of discussions with patients regarding treatments, while only 16% of physicians reported doing so at such a high frequency. (See Figure 1, click to enlarge) Both physicians and nurses use the NCCN Guidelines as a reference tool. Physicians reported using the NCCN Guidelines primarily when making decisions about patient care.

Survey data indicated that physicians were twice as likely as nurses to use the NCCN Guidelines in their decision-making about patient care. This data also supports differences in patterns of NCCN Guideline use based on clinician role. Nearly 90% of physicians indicated that they use the NCCN Guidelines for this purpose, while only 41% of nurses reported using the NCCN Guidelines in this way. Over 85% of both physicians and nurses indicated that they use the NCCN Guidelines as a reference tool. (See Figure 2, click to enlarge)

“These findings support what we know about the way oncology is practiced,” said Joan S. McClure, MS, Senior Vice President of Clinical Information and Publications for NCCN. “We are pleased that physicians and nurses are using the resources NCCN provides to inform their decision making. We also know that nurses play a critical role in educating patients about their treatment options.”

Overall, 95.3% of physicians, surgeons and oncologists and 94.7% of nurse specialists and oncology nurses who were NCCN Guidelines users agreed that the NCCN Guidelines are useful in patient care and education. Other metrics collected examined more specifically the frequency of use of various NCCN Guidelines by disease site and of other NCCN information products, including the NCCN Drugs & Biologics Compendium® and the NCCN Chemotherapy Order Templates®, as well as data regarding format of access, such as the NCCN.org website, JNCCN — Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, NCCN Pocket Guides, and NCCN CD-ROMs.

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