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Volume 29 (1)
Volume 29, Issue 1, Winter 2009
J Contin Educ Health Prof 2009; 29(1):16-31
ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Improved cardiovascular prevention using best CME practices: A randomized trial
Réjean Laprise, Robert Thivierge, Gilbert Gosselin, Maja Bujas-Bobanovic, Sylvie Vandal, Daniel Paquette, Micheline Luneau, Pierre Julien, Serge Goulet, Jean Desaulniers, Paule Maltais
A b s t r a c t
Introduction: It was hypothesized that after a continuing medical education (CME) event, practice enablers and reinforcers addressing main clinical barriers to preventive care would be more effective in improving general practitioners’ (GPs) adherence to cardiovascular guidelines than a CME event only.
Methods: A cluster-randomized trial was conducted on a convenience sample of 122 GPs who were randomly assigned to either CME only (control group) or CME with practice enablers and reinforcers (PER group). In the PER group, nurses visited GPs’ offices once a month to implement the clinical intervention on patients 55 years old with a scheduled visit in the month following the nurse visit: (1) screening medical records for potentially undermanaged high-risk patients; (2) prompting physicians to reassess preventive care in these patients; (3) enclosing a checklist reporting most recent information relevant to guidelines’ implementation; and (4) enclosing a summary of experts’ recommendations in the form of a follow-up and treatment algorithm.
Results: A retrospective chart audit of 2344 consenting patients, potentially undermanaged at baseline, demonstrated that the PER intervention following CME significantly improved adherence to guidelines compared to CME alone (OR: 1.78, 95% CI: 1.32–2.41).
Discussion: The intervention was designed for self-implementation in primary care practices that have their own nursing staff. PER GPs were highly satisfied with the intervention; the majority said that they would implement it in their practice if someone trained their nurse, thus suggesting support for development of a multiprofessional CME program to disseminate this clinical approach to primary care practice groups.
Lessons for Practice
- Practice enablers and reinforcers after a CME event may be more effective in changing physicians’ performance than a one time-based CME event.
- CME providers may develop CME strategies to address barriers to knowledge implementation in the clinical environment and build a CME program that may facilitate and sustain knowledge integration in the practice.
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