Anaesthesiologists' guideline adherence in pre-operative evaluation: a retrospective observational study.

Background: Surveys suggest a low level of implementation of clinical guidelines, although they are intended to improve the quality of treatment and patient safety. Which guideline recommendations are not followed and why has yet to be analysed. In this study, we investigate the proportion of European and national guidelines followed in the area of pre-operative anaesthetic evaluation prior to non-cardiac surgery.