Table 3 Barriers to adherence and suggested interventions to improve adherence to recommendations on treatment of uncomplicated UTI

Barriers related to knowledge

No barriers

Not applicable

Barriers related to attitudes

Lack of agreement specific recommendation

Lack of applicability:

- Belief that recommendation is not applicable to patient population due to local patterns of bacterial resistance.

- Belief that benefits do not outweigh patients' discomfort (taking drug 4 times a day) of prescribing drug of first choice.

Pilot-testing of guidelines on resistance:

Guidelines should be tested on regional patterns of bacterial resistance of the recommended drugs.

Availability of user friendly dosage of drugs:

The recommended drugs should be available in a user friendly dosage.

External barriers

Environmental factors

Organisational constraints

Outside organisation:

Recommended drugs are not available in the preferred dosage (nitrofurantoin).

Idem