Applying Clinical Practice Guidelines to the Complex Patient: Insights for Practice and Policy from Stroke Rehabilitation

Abstract

In Canada, policy makers are working to align services with the Stroke Rehabilitation Best Practice Recommendations (SRBPR). Complicating the application of clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) is the fact that most strokes occur in the context of other diagnoses. We sought to understand clinicians' use of the CPGs and ascertain how much guidance regarding multimorbidity was available in the SRBPR. Study results indicated that using the recommendations was problematic due to a perceived lack of guidance regarding comorbidities and multimorbidity, and concerns regarding the applicability to "real-life patients." Comorbidities were mentioned in less than half of the recommendations, but no explicit guidance was provided regarding the management of comorbidities. Given the prevalence of multimorbidity in stroke rehabilitation, this clinical context is ideal for development and testing of CPGs that account for multimorbidity and other complexity factors. Results may also suggest limitations to using CPGs in the development of activity-based funding models.