Designing education interventions to improve physician performance in office practice

Family doctors play a very important role in determining the health of the populace; however, surveys and expert opinions indicate that there is considerable room for improvement in the knowledge and skills of family physicians concerning the prevention, early detection and management of the major causes of death and disability. Effective Continuing Medical Education (CME) could help greatly to resolve this problem. THere is, however, little evidence that presently available systems of CME, though costly, are effective in improving either physician competence or patient health. Attractive and cost-effective CME methods are greatly needed. This study develops, field tests and evaluates more efficient office-based CME programs for family doctors. Prevention, early detection and improved management of cardiovascular disease and cancer are the primary goals. A pretest posttest control group and time series approach was chosen for the experimental design. Thirty-one family physicians are participating. Physician performance and patient outcome prior to and after education are being assessed largely through office record review.