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Improvement in the management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease following a clinical educational program: results from a prospective cohort study in the Sicilian general practice setting.

ABSTRACT: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a chronic inflammatory disorder of the lungs associated with progressive disability. Although general practitioners (GPs) should play an important role in the COPD management, critical issues have been documented in the primary care setting. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an educational program for the improvement of the COPD management in a Sicilian general practice setting. The effectiveness of the program, was evaluated by comparing 15 quality-of-care indicators developed from data extracted by 33 GPs, at baseline vs. 12 and 24 months, and compared with data from a national primary care database (HSD). Moreover, data on COPD-related and all-cause hospitalizations over time of COPD patients, was measured. Overall, 1,465 patients (3.2%) had a registered diagnosis of COPD at baseline vs. 1,395 (3.0%) and 1,388 (3.0%) over time (vs. 3.0% in HSD). COPD patients with one spirometry registered increased from 59.7% at baseline to 73.0% after 2 years (vs. 64.8% in HSD). Instead, some quality of care indicators where not modified such as proportion of COPD patients treated with ICS in monotherapy that was almost stable during the study period: 9.6% (baseline) vs. 9.9% (after 2 years), vs. 7.7% in HSD. COPD-related and all-cause hospitalizations of patients affected by COPD decreased during the two observation years (from 6.9% vs. 4.0%; from 23.0% vs. 18.9%, respectively). Our study showed that educational program involving specialists, clinical pharmacologists and GPs based on training events and clinical audit may contribute to partly improve both diagnostic and therapeutic management of COPD in primary care setting, despite this effect may vary across GPs and indicators of COPD quality of care.

SUBMITTER: Ferrara R

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5865126 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Improvement in the management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease following a clinical educational program: results from a prospective cohort study in the Sicilian general practice setting.

Ferrara Rosarita R Ientile Valentina V Piccinni Carlo C Pasqua Alessandro A Pecchioli Serena S Fontana Andrea A Alecci Umberto U Scoglio Riccardo R Magliozzo Francesco F Torrisi Sebastiano Emanuele SE Vancheri Carlo C Vitulo Patrizio P Fantaci Giovanna G Ferrajolo Carmen C Cazzola Mario M Cricelli Claudio C Caputi Achille Patrizio AP Trifirò Gianluca G

NPJ primary care respiratory medicine 20180323 1

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a chronic inflammatory disorder of the lungs associated with progressive disability. Although general practitioners (GPs) should play an important role in the COPD management, critical issues have been documented in the primary care setting. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an educational program for the improvement of the COPD management in a Sicilian general practice setting. The effectiveness of the program, was evaluat ...[more]

PMID: 29572448

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Project description:BackgroundAsthma, a common yet complex airway disorder affecting about 11% of Australians, is well-controlled in only 54% of people with asthma. Those with difficult-to-treat and severe asthma are more likely to experience recurrent and potentially life-threatening exacerbations. It is therefore important that GPs can initiate a systematic approach for the management of patients with difficult-to-treat asthma to identify those whose condition may improve by addressing contributory factors and those who require specialist input. We therefore aimed to develop and deliver an educational program for GPs on the systematic management of patients with difficult-to-treat and severe asthma and evaluate the effectiveness of this program.MethodsWe developed an educational program on the management of difficult-to-treat and severe asthma in primary care that was delivered to GPs and other health professionals between January and June 2018. We evaluated the effectiveness of the program using a retrospective pre-test with post-survey, administered to GPs directly after program participation.ResultsOver 1000 general practice health professionals participated in the educational program, including 890 GPs of whom 226 (25%) completed the survey. Following program participation, a greater proportion of GPs identified factors they would assess in managing a patient with poor asthma control, particularly for considering the risk of future adverse outcomes (+?51%), changes in lifestyle (+?38%), and self-management strategies (+?35%). GPs indicated a greater awareness of the biologic therapies that specialists could consider prescribing to their patients with severe asthma (+?75%), of the requirements for a patient to be prescribed a biologic therapy (+?73%) and that patients with different phenotypic characteristics can respond differently to standard therapy (+?67%). The proportion of GPs who would refer appropriate patients to a specialist also significantly increased.ConclusionsThis study suggests that an evidence-based educational program can improve GP knowledge, confidence and intended practice in managing patients with difficult-to-treat and severe asthma.

Project description:ObjectiveTo assess the long term effects of two different modes of disease management (comprehensive self management and routine monitoring) on quality of life (primary objective), frequency and patients' management of exacerbations, and self efficacy (secondary objectives) in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in general practice.Design24 month, multicentre, investigator blinded, three arm, pragmatic, randomised controlled trial.Setting15 general practices in the eastern part of the Netherlands.ParticipantsPatients with COPD confirmed by spirometry and treated in general practice. Patients with very severe COPD or treated by a respiratory physician were excluded.InterventionsA comprehensive self management programme as an adjunct to usual care, consisting of four tailored sessions with ongoing telephone support by a practice nurse; routine monitoring as an adjunct to usual care, consisting of 2-4 structured consultations a year with a practice nurse; or usual care alone (contacts with the general practitioner at the patients' own initiative).Outcome measuresThe primary outcome was the change in COPD specific quality of life at 24 months as measured with the chronic respiratory questionnaire total score. Secondary outcomes were chronic respiratory questionnaire domain scores, frequency and patients' management of exacerbations measured with the Nijmegen telephonic exacerbation assessment system, and self efficacy measured with the COPD self-efficacy scale.Results165 patients were allocated to self management (n=55), routine monitoring (n=55), or usual care alone (n=55). At 24 months, adjusted treatment differences between the three groups in mean chronic respiratory questionnaire total score were not significant. Secondary outcomes did not differ, except for exacerbation management. Compared with usual care, more exacerbations in the self management group were managed with bronchodilators (odds ratio 2.81, 95% confidence interval 1.16 to 6.82) and with prednisolone, antibiotics, or both (3.98, 1.10 to 15.58).ConclusionsComprehensive self management or routine monitoring did not show long term benefits in terms of quality of life or self efficacy over usual care alone in COPD patients in general practice. Patients in the self management group seemed to be more capable of appropriately managing exacerbations than did those in the usual care group.Trial registrationClinical trials NCT00128765.

Dataset Information

Improvement in the management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease following a clinical educational program: results from a prospective cohort study in the Sicilian general practice setting.

Publications

Improvement in the management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease following a clinical educational program: results from a prospective cohort study in the Sicilian general practice setting.

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