Effectiveness of 5-year IBD Provider Online Educational Intervention Program
There is considerable practice variability among providers caring for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients. Limited data exists on the effectiveness of educational interventions targeting IBD providers to address these gaps. We report outcomes for a 5-year provider education training program which culminated in an enduring online education resource and clinical decision support tool.
Gastroenterology
Presented: 2021
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Acknowledgement & Partners
RMEI & Partners
August 30, 2021
Type of Research Activity
Evaluating the effectiveness of online education in addressing ongoing areas of educational need for clinicians treating IBD.
Summary
There is considerable practice variability among providers caring for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients. Limited data exists on the effectiveness of educational interventions targeting IBD providers to address these gaps. We report outcomes for a 5-year provider education training program which culminated in an enduring online education resource and clinical decision support tool.
Evaluating the effectiveness of online education in addressing ongoing areas of educational need for clinicians treating IBD.
Methods
Online programs from 2016-2020, presented by RMEI, were centralized around a core IBD concept of (1) treatment safety and efficacy, in addition to secondary concepts of (2) disease and treatment prognosis, (3) monitoring and optimization, and (4) shared decision making. All education programs had pre- and post-test questions for assessing effectiveness of educational interventions. Means were calculated for pre- and post-test for each group and sub-groups stratified various demographic factors.
Results
Across the 1,101 unique providers included in our analysis, the most highly represented populations were physicians specializing in gastroenterology who see 1-5 IBD patients per week. Significant improvements were observed in post-test question responses across IBD concepts of treatment safety and efficacy, disease and treatment prognosis, and monitoring and optimization, but not shared decision making. Results were largely consistent when stratified by profession, specialty, and IBD patient volumes. Based on the observed difficulty in education for providers on shared decision making and clinical decision making, an online enduring educational resource coupled with clinical decision support tools was built. Over a 6-month period these resources were accessed 1,968 times, and providers accessing the accompanying enduring online educational programs were significantly more likely to feel moderately confident or very confident in using decision support tools to guide clinical decisions.
Conclusion
We have demonstrated an ability to significantly improve gaps in IBD provider knowledge, competence, confidence, and clinical decision-making, surrounding treatment efficacy and safety, disease and treatment prognosis, and monitoring and optimization of IBD patients. The online tool will help to address remaining gaps in shared decision making in routine practice.
