Objective: To assess the attitudes of general practitioners in Harare, Zimbabwe, towards theuse of clinical practice guidelines (CPG's).Design: Cross sectional survey.Setting: General practitioners in private practice within the urban Harare (Zimbabwe)environs.Subjects: Two hundred and thirty two general practitioners in Harare, Zimbabwe.Main outcome measures: The response to a questionnaire enlisting attitudes to CPGs.Results: Questionnaires were sent to 232 general practitioners. Of these, 137 (59.1%)returned a completed questionnaire. Among the respondents, 95.6% felt that generalpractitioners should be involved in the development of guidelines, 72.6% had read at leastone guideline, 65.9% were prepared to use guidelines in their practice, 61.6% thought thatguidelines would improve their treatment ability, and 59.7 % thought that guidelines wouldimprove their knowledge of disease. 76.5 % felt that the government should not legislate,66.2% felt that guidelines reduce practitioners' flexibility and 57.9% felt that guidelineswrould not improve their diagnostic ability.Conclusion: The respondents were, in general, favourabl y disposed towards CPGs. Most hadalready read some guidelines, and about two thirds were prepared to use them. Almost allrespondents felt that general practitioners should be involved in the development ofguidelines for use in general practice. These general practitioners felt that guidelines werelikely to help them treat patients than to make a diagnosis. Despite these favourable attitudes,many practitioners felt that guidelines would limit their personal flexibility in caring forpatients. Organisations developing or implementing CPGs in general practice shouldaddress these concerns
