Changes in Physician Performance Through Continuous Professional Development

February 12, 2009 updated by: Henry Ford Health System

An Evaluation of Changes in Physician Performance Through Continuous Professional Development

The purpose of this study is to determine whether having physicians evaluate their management of certain diseases as part of board recertification results in improved patient care.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

In the year 2000, the American Board of Internal Medicine introduced continuous professional development as part of its board recertification process. The purpose of these changes were to achieve the following goals:

  • To improve the quality of patient care;
  • To affirm the high standards expected of a self-regulating, accountable profession;
  • To foster continuing scholarship and self-improvement;
  • To offer diplomats a portfolio of credentials attesting to competence; and
  • To add value to the health care system.

The most notable change in the new recertification process was the addition of practice improvement modules (PIMs). These modules require physicians to review how well they manage a particular chronic disease within their practice and to develop an improvement plan for their practice. In April 2005, it became a requirement that all internists complete a PIM as part of board recertification.

Currently, it not known whether having physicians evaluate their management of certain diseases as part of board recertification will achieve its intended goal of improving patient care. Therefore, the purpose of this trial is to assess whether practice improvement modules result in improved clinical performance.

The PIM selected for this study will focus on asthma. As PIMs seek to improve the quality of care within a practice, the unit of randomization in this study will be clinics (i.e., practices) within the Henry Ford Health System. We will enroll practicing, board-certified internists within the Henry Ford Medical Group (~40 internists or 20 per arm). Clinics (~16 or 8 per arm) will then be randomized to either complete the PIM or not complete the PIM. Participating internists at a site randomized to complete the PIM will be encouraged to work together to complete the asthma PIM. Participating internists at control sites will continue usual care and will not be asked to complete an asthma PIM.

Comparisons: We will assess differences in asthma care by prospectively surveying patients seen by physicians in the intervention group and control group following the intervention period. These analyses will be adjusted by the baseline characteristics of asthma patients seen by participating physicians.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment

40

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Michigan
      • Detroit, Michigan, United States, 48202
        • Henry Ford Health System

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child
  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Previously board-certified in internal medicine
  • Practicing general internist within the Henry Ford Medical Group

Exclusion Criteria:

  • None

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Factorial Assignment
  • Masking: Single

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
1) The proportion of patients prescribed inhaled corticosteroids

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
1) The proportion of patients reporting instruction on the proper inhaler technique
2) The proportion of patients reporting that asthma triggers were discussed
3) The proportion of patients instructed to use short-acting beta-agonists as needed.
4) The proportion of patients instructed to use a peak flow meter
5) The proportion of patients who received a written action plan for exacerbations
6) The proportion of patients reporting nocturnal asthma symptoms in the past month
7) The proportion of patients reporting regular use of a rescue inhaler daily.

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Henry Ford Health System

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: L. Keoki Williams, MD, MPH, Center for Health Services Research, Henry Ford Health System

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

January 1, 2005

Primary Completion (Actual)

July 1, 2006

Study Completion (Actual)

December 1, 2006

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 21, 2005

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 21, 2005

First Posted (Estimate)

June 22, 2005

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

February 13, 2009

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 12, 2009

Last Verified

February 1, 2009

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • F10011

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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