Background Clinical practice guideline for Sexually Transmitted Infections were developed in 2011 by The Korean Urological Association supported financially by the Korean government. It is necessary to establish the theory-based strategy to disseminate and implement guideline more effectively.

Objectives To evaluate dissemination and implementation of clinical practice guideline for Sexually Transmitted Infections in primary health care in Korea.

Methods The RE-AIM framework in terms of reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation and maintenance was applied. Structured questionnaire was formulated. Survey was performed by e-mailing to physicians working at primary health care clinics from 1st Nov – 30thNov 2012 and 305 physicians responded.

Results Of the total respondents, 37.5% answered ‘Reach’- no problem for the accessibility of clinical guidelines, cognitive level, and adoption. For Effectiveness measurement, the use of practice guidelines would help the determination of the direction of treatment and communication with patients (52.2%). For the Adoption-environment to apply clinical practice guidelines, there were no problems (50.6%). For Implementation-the degree of application with Practice Guidelines, 17.8% of respondents frequently used the guidelines and, 91.0% of respondents are willing to use them in the future. For Maintenance, 54.8% of respondents used the clinical practice guidelines for more than 6 months.

Discussion The reach has been low and even in the respondents with the guideline, the rate of clinical application has been low as well.

Implications for Guideline Developers/Users RE-AIM framework is a useful tool to evaluate the effect of using guidelines and develop strategies to disseminate them.