A model continuing medical education program on congestive heart failure: An analysis
✍ Scribed by John Toews; Jocelyn Lockyer; Wayne Warnica; John Morgan; Janet Dawson; Terry Churchill-Smith
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1997
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 645 KB
- Volume
- 17
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0894-1912
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Clinical practice guidelines hu1.e become an important focus for clinical care. This article describes a process undertaken to disseminate and evaluate an educational project designed to ensure that all physicians in a large geographic area received information about the guidelines for congestive heart failure and had an opportunity to work through them and begin the adoption process to improve the care of their patients. The educational strategy was based on a combination of predisposing, enabling, and reinforcing methods. The predisposing methods included printed materials, lectures, and rounds. A computer disk that allowed the physician to test his or her cognitiiie knowledge as well as work through patient cases comprised the enabling method. The program u'as reinforced by regular newsletter reminders of the project The program was evaluated through u combination of telephone interviews and printed questionnaires. Despite the contemporaiy nature of the educational thought on which the program was designed, the adoption of the guidelines fell short of expectations. The disease proved to be more complex to niunage thun anticipated. Physicians appeared unwilling to spend as much time as the program's design required. Physicians were less computer literate than expected and found the WindoEs-based computer-assisted instruction dificult to use. Additionul stiidies are needed to idenrib how best to implement a community-wide strategy to promote giiidelines.