Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Canadian Medical Association Journal logoLink to Canadian Medical Association Journal
. 1984 Mar 15;130(6):719–722.

Educational package on hypertension for primary care physicians.

C E Evans, R B Haynes, J R Gilbert, D W Taylor, D L Sackett, M Johnston
PMCID: PMC1875931  PMID: 6697280

Abstract

The usefulness of an educational package on hypertension that provides clinically important, up-to-date medical information and office "aids" to primary care physicians was tested in a randomized controlled trial. Fifty-six physicians completed a pretest multiple-choice questionnaire and were allocated at random either to a group that received the educational package (the "study group") or to a control group. There was a highly significant correlation between the pretest scores and the number of years since graduation (r = -0.55, p less than 0.0001), which indicated that younger physicians are more likely than older physicians to have an up-to-date knowledge of the management of hypertension. The increase in knowledge in the study group (17.5%) was significantly greater than that in the control group (2.7%). Furthermore, although the post-test scores in the control group were still significantly correlated with the number of years since graduation, those in the study group were not. It was concluded that although the older physicians knew less than their younger colleagues about hypertension, the use of the educational package significantly increased knowledge, and the increase was not limited by the physician's age.

Full text

PDF
719

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Avorn J., Soumerai S. B. Improving drug-therapy decisions through educational outreach. A randomized controlled trial of academically based "detailing". N Engl J Med. 1983 Jun 16;308(24):1457–1463. doi: 10.1056/NEJM198306163082406. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Berg A. O. Does continuing medical education improve the quality of medical care? A look at the evidence. J Fam Pract. 1979 Jun;8(6):1171–1174. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Bertram D. A., Brooks-Bertram P. A. The evaluation of continuing medical education: a literature review. Health Educ Monogr. 1977 Winter;5(4):330–362. doi: 10.1177/109019817700500404. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. LASAGNA L., VON FELSINGER J. M. The volunteer subject in research. Science. 1954 Sep 3;120(3114):359–361. doi: 10.1126/science.120.3114.359. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Lewis C. E., Hassanein R. S. Continuing medical education--an epidemiologic evaluation. N Engl J Med. 1970 Jan 29;282(5):254–259. doi: 10.1056/NEJM197001292820506. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Linn B. S. Continuing medical education. Impact on emergency room burn care. JAMA. 1980 Aug 8;244(6):565–570. doi: 10.1001/jama.244.6.565. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Lloyd J. S., Abrahamson S. Effectiveness of continuing medical education: a review of the evidence. Eval Health Prof. 1979 Sep;2(3):251–280. doi: 10.1177/016327877900200301. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Putnam W., Curry L. Patient care appraisal in the ambulatory setting: effectiveness as a continuing medical education tool. Annu Conf Res Med Educ. 1980;(19):207–212. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Sanazaro P. J., Worth R. M. Concurrent quality assurance in hospital care. Report of a study by Private Initiative in PSRO. N Engl J Med. 1978 May 25;298(21):1171–1177. doi: 10.1056/NEJM197805252982104. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Sibley J. C., Sackett D. L., Neufeld V., Gerrard B., Rudnick K. V., Fraser W. A randomized trial of continuing medical education. N Engl J Med. 1982 Mar 4;306(9):511–515. doi: 10.1056/NEJM198203043060904. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Stensland P. G. Continuing professional education. Strategies for health professionals. Soc Sci Med. 1977 Sep;11(11-13):661–666. doi: 10.1016/0037-7856(77)90050-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Stross J. K., Bole G. G. Evaluation of a continuing education program in rheumatoid arthritis. Arthritis Rheum. 1980 Jul;23(7):846–849. doi: 10.1002/art.1780230711. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Stross J. K., Harlan W. R. The dissemination of new medical information. JAMA. 1979 Jun 15;241(24):2622–2624. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Stross J. K., Harlan W. R. The impact of mandatory continuing medical education. JAMA. 1978 Jun 23;239(25):2663–2666. doi: 10.1001/jama.239.25.2663. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Warren K. S., Goffman W. Th ecology of the medical literatures. Am J Med Sci. 1972 Apr;263(4):267–273. doi: 10.1097/00000441-197204000-00009. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Watson D. S., Stenhouse N. S., Jellett L. B. General practitioner prescribing habits; The Western Australian experience, 1972-1973. Med J Aust. 1975 Dec 20;2(25-26):946–947. doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1975.tb106463.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Canadian Medical Association Journal are provided here courtesy of Canadian Medical Association

RESOURCES