Patient outcomes following GPs' educations about COPD: a cluster randomized controlled trial.
Hanna SandelowskyIngvar KrakauSonja ModinBjörn StällbergSven-Erik JohanssonAnna NagerPublished in: NPJ primary care respiratory medicine (2020)
This study aimed to compare patient outcomes following case method learning and traditional lectures as methods for continuing medical education (CME) about chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) for general practitioners (GPs) in Sweden. In a pragmatic cluster randomized controlled trial, COPD patients (n = 425; case method group n = 209, traditional lectures group n = 216) from 24 primary health care centers replied to questionnaires prior to and 18 months after a 2 × 2-h CME was given to GPs (n = 255). We measured changes in the scores of the Clinical COPD Questionnaire (CCQ), symptoms, needs for disease information, exacerbations, smoking, and use of pulmonary rehabilitation. The changes over time were similar for both CME methods. Patients who had used pulmonary rehabilitation increased from 13.2 to 17.8% (P = 0.04), and prevalence of smoking decreased from 28.9 to 25.1% (P = 0.003). In conclusion, neither of the used CME methods was superior than the other regarding patient outcomes. CME's primary value may lay in improving GPs' adherence to guidelines, which should lead to long-term positive changes in patient health.
Keyphrases
- chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
- medical education
- lung function
- study protocol
- end stage renal disease
- pulmonary hypertension
- case report
- ejection fraction
- chronic kidney disease
- smoking cessation
- public health
- newly diagnosed
- cystic fibrosis
- health information
- risk factors
- mental health
- clinical trial
- peritoneal dialysis
- prognostic factors
- patient reported
- insulin resistance
- risk assessment
- air pollution
- metabolic syndrome
- skeletal muscle
- climate change
- sleep quality
- health promotion