Journal Article

Effectiveness of educational interventions in improving detection and management of dementia in primary care: cluster randomised controlled study

Keady, John, Levin, Enid, Howie, Kate, Downs, Murna, Bryans, Michelle, Turner, Stephen, Wilcock, Jane, O'Carroll, Ronan, Iliffe, Steve

2006

Overview

AbstractObjective To test the effectiveness of educational interventions in improving detection rates and management of dementia in primary care.Design Unblinded, cluster randomised, before and after controlled study.Setting General practices in the United Kingdom (central Scotland and London) between 1999 and 2002.Interventions Three educational interventions: an electronic tutorial carried on a CD Rom; decision support software built into the electronic medical record; and practice based workshops.Participants 36 practices participated in the study. Eight practices were randomly assigned to the electronic tutorial; eight to decision support software; 10 to practice based workshops; and 10 to control. Electronic and manual searches yielded 450 valid and usable medical records.Main outcome measures Rates of detection of dementia and the extent to which medical records showed evidence of improved concordance with guidelines regarding diagnosis and management.Results Decision support software (P = 0.01) and practice based workshops (P = 0.01) both significantly improved rates of detection compared with control. There were no significant differences by intervention in the measures of concordance with guidelines.Conclusions Decision support systems and practice based workshops are effective educational approaches in improving detection rates in dementia.

• Publisher: British Medical Journal Publishing Group,British Medical Association,BMJ Publishing Group LTD,BMJ Publishing Group Ltd
• Subject: Aged / Blood tests / CD-ROM / Clinical Competence - standards / Cluster Analysis / Computer software / Computer-Assisted Instruction - methods / Computer-Assisted Instruction - standards / Concordance tables / Curricula / Decision Support Techniques / Dementia / Dementia - diagnosis / Dementia - therapy / Dementia disorders / Diagnostic indices / Education, Medical, Graduate - methods / Educational diagnosis / Electronic health records / Electronic medical records / Family Practice - education / Family Practice - standards / General practice / Humans / Intervention / London / Medical diagnosis / Medical records / Medical referrals / Patients / Primary care / Primary health care / Psychoeducational intervention / Scotland / Software / Tutorials / Workshops