Clinical Practice Guidelines as a Medical Profession Government Technology in Medellín, Colombia

Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) are essential for current medical professions since they prevent clinical practice from being based on personal opinions, bias, or individual experience. CPGs are technologies used to govern clinical practice because they guide decision making considering the best available evidence and patients’ values and preferences. In Colombia, studies associated with CPGs and medical professions are scarce; the few available have considered CPGs as a tool for standardization, improving health care efficiency, and quality, and have identified barriers against their implementation. Studies from the medical humanities, sociology, and medical philosophy perspectives are nonexistent. The objective of this study was to analyze the way in which 311 physicians perceive CPGs, the difficulties associated with implementation, the way in which CPGs set and condition individual and collective professional autonomy, and its effect on patient–physician relationships. Our findings revealed that CPGs may be understood as tools used to govern medical judgment and the medical professions with limited implementation in the Colombian health system, but which have become significant mechanisms placing medicine close to the highest scientific, professional, and ethical standards.