We aimed to assess physician knowledge for 2009 guidelines established by the American Academy of Neurology and American Epilepsy Society regarding issues related to pregnancy for women with epilepsy. A questionnaire was developed and distributed to all neurologists and neurology residents practicing in a large Canadian health region serving a population of 1.4 million. Descriptive statistics were obtained and percentage of correct responses was calculated. Forty-five physicians completed the survey (response rate = 83.3%), with a median correct score of 50%. Residents were more likely (93.3%) to state that this information was important to their practice than staff physicians (40.0%). Overall knowledge of outcomes associated with specific AEDs was poor; less than half of the physicians correctly indicated which AEDs were associated with adverse outcomes for the majority of drug-related questions. We recommend multifaceted, interactive implementation strategies for increasing knowledge of guideline contents.
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