Effectiveness of a Educational Intervention to Improve the Resolution Capacity of Primary Health Care Teams.

Phase IV Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial With 2 Parallel Groups, to Evaluate the Effectiveness of a Educational Intervention to Improve the Resolution Capacity.

There is a great variability in the different primary care teams referral rate. And variability means inappropriateness somewhere in the process of care. The most important determinants of the variability are the attitude and knowledge of the professional, the existence and availability of evidence, the resources available and the professionals practice style. To improve the knowledge of the professionals could be a way to decrease the variability. Because of this, we have the aim to determinate the effectiveness of an educational intervention to improve the primary care teams from the city of Barcelona referral rate.

The aim of our study is to determinate if an active educational intervention (interactive sessions discussing clinical cases plus the minimal intervention) reduces the professionals referral rate compared with the minimal intervention group (written adapted clinical practice guidelines and feedback about their referral rate compared with other primary care teams). It is a cluster-randomized controlled trial stratified by the percentage of reform and the referral rate. The subjects were primary care physicians of the 51 teams of Barcelona city attending 1.160.748 inhabitants.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Primary care teams who agree to participate.
• Primary care teams attending adult population (older than 14).

Exclusion Criteria:

• Primary care teams where the intervention would be difficult to take place.
• Primary care teams where the referral rate is not available.
• Primary care teams with a percentage of reform lower than 40%.