Introduction

Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) are ‘systematically developed statements to assist practitioner and patient decisions about appropriate healthcare for specific circumstances’.1 The implementation of guidelines can help optimise resource utilisation, reduce variations in clinical practice and identify and apply evidence-based recommendations safely and effectively.2 In China, the number of guidelines is increasing annually, while low adherence remains a significant challenge. Low adherence not only wastes healthcare resources but also allows preventable deaths to occur. Addressing the poor implementation of guidelines in China is urgent.

Implementation research, which is the scientific study to promote evidence-based practices into routine practice,3 may be feasible to improve guideline adherence. For example, by finding the barriers and facilitators for the guideline implementation, the implementation strategy is designed accordingly. However, in China, which has a large population and area, the implementation strategy adopted in a small area for a specific context may only be effective in a certain region, but it is difficult to work in the whole country.2 Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to the intrinsic factors of the guidelines and optimise the guidelines from the development of the guidelines, so as to improve the guideline implementability. This article provides a brief overview of the quantity, quality and implementation of CPGs in China, along with suggestions for future directions, offering basic information for scholars to understand the implementation of CPGs in China.