The Impact of E-Learning on Adherence to Guidelines for Acute Gastroenteritis: A Single-Arm Intervention Study

Abstract

ObjectiveE-learning is a candidate tool for clinical practice guidelines (CPG) implementation due to its versatility, universal access and low costs. We aimed to assess the impact of a five-module e-learning course about CPG for acute gastroenteritis (AGE) on physicians’ knowledge and clinical practice.Study designThis work was conceived as a pre/post single-arm intervention study. Physicians from 11 European countries registered for the online course. Personal data, pre- and post-course questionnaires and clinical data about 3 to 5 children with AGE managed by each physician before and after the course were collected. Primary outcome measures included the proportion of participants fully adherent to CPG and number of patients managed with full adherence.ResultsAmong the 149 physicians who signed up for the e-learning course, 59 took the course and reported on their case management of 519 children <5 years of age who were referred to their practice because of AGE (281 and 264 children seen before and after the course, respectively). The course improved knowledge scores (pre-course 8.6 ± 2.7 versus post-course 12.8 ± 2.1, P < 0.001), average adherence (from 87.0 ± 7.7% to 90.6 ± 7.1%, P = 0.001) and the number of patients managed in full adherence with the guidelines (from 33.6 ± 31.7% to 43.9 ± 36.1%, P = 0.037).ConclusionsE-learning is effective in increasing knowledge and improving clinical practice in paediatric AGE and is an effective tool for implementing clinical practice guidelines.

­The effects of clinical decision support system for prescribing medication on patient outcomes and physician practice performance: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…The results of this study indicate that the use of CDSS in diabetic patients has a positive effect on a variety of patient outcomes such as adherence to the nutritional diet of patients with diabetes type two and taking the missed dose of medication [39,40]. Meanwhile, the results of this study are consistent with Vervloet et al's and Krishna et al's systematic review on the positive effect of CDSS with alerts on patients with diabetes [78,79]. The main reason for the effect of CDSS on improving patient adherence seems to be due to the fact that it raises patients' awareness about taking medication [39,40].…”

The effects of clinical decision support system for prescribing on patient outcomes and physician practice performance: A systematic review

“…The results of this study indicate that the use of CDSS in diabetic patients has a positive effect on a The results of this study show that the use of CDSS in digestive disorders has a positive effect on the physicians' performance in a number of outcomes such as the standard use of oral rehydration solution, the prescription of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and proton pump inhibitors in normal and high-risk patients, and the provision of care services in line with the guidelines for primary care [28][29][30]. The results of this study are consistent with the findings of Nicastro reporting the positive effects of the system on the behavior of physicians such as adherence to clinical guidelines and prescription of drugs [66]. The reason for the positive effect of CDSS on the prescribing of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and proton pump inhibitors in healthy and high-risk patients and the use of oral rehydration solution was the systems' recommendations relating to the abovementioned drugs and their previous knowledge [28][29][30].…”

The effects of clinical decision support system for prescribing medication on patient outcomes and physician practice performance: A systematic review and meta-analysis

“…Also, the results of this study show that the use of CDSS in digestive disorders has a positive effect on the physician performance in a variety of outcomes such as the standard use of oral rehydration solution, the prescription of non-steroidal anti-in ammatory drugs and proton pump inhibitors in normal and highrisk patients, and the provision of care services in line with the guidelines for primary care [32][33][34]. The results of this study are also consistent with the ndings of Nicastro, reporting the positive effects of the system on the behavior of physicians such as adherence to clinical guidelines and prescription of drugs [72]. The reason for the positive effect of CDSS on the prescription of non-steroidal anti-in ammatory drugs and proton pump inhibitors in healthy and high-risk patients and the use of oral rehydration solution was the systems' recommendations relating to the above-mentioned drugs and their previous knowledge [32][33][34].…”