[Performance of family practitioners according to the guideline otitis media acuta of the Dutch College of Family Practitioners].

Objective: To establish to which degree the guidelines of the Otitis media acuta standard of the Netherlands college of general practitioners (NHG) are followed in practice and what is GPs' opinion of them.

Design: Survey.

Setting: 65 general practitioners settled throughout the Netherlands.

Method: The GPs were recruited for the study by means of an advertisement and a personal approach. Opinions and performances were inventoried using a questionnaire and self-completion forms for successive doctor-patient contacts, respectively.

Results: Virtually all participants were familiar with the NHG standard and most were familiar with three central guidelines. Of these three, the recommendation of an active follow-up policy for children up to the age of 2 was known to the fewest GPs, and this recommendation also received the least support. In the 327 consultations recorded there was good agreement between actual performance and the guidelines, especially as regards history-taking, physical examination and diagnosing. Regarding management and patient information the agreement was less. Concerning the follow-up policy for young children and the prescribing of antibiotics, actual performance clearly differed from the NHG standard, possibly because the relevant guidelines were less well known.

Conclusion: The results of this study are relevant to the planning of GP education and the evaluation of the guidelines themselves.