Using Electronic Medical Records to Measure and Improve Adherence to Tobacco Treatment Guidelines in Primary Care
Using Electronic Medical Records to Measure and Improve Adherence to Tobacco Treatment Guidelines in Primary Care
RATIONALE: Stop-smoking plans suggested by physicians may help patients quit smoking. Studying how physicians give stop-smoking treatment as family doctors may increase the chance of smokers receiving such treatment.
PURPOSE: This randomized clinical trial is studying physicians' practice patterns to see if regular feedback to the physician increases the chance of adult smokers receiving stop-smoking treatment.
OBJECTIVES:
OUTLINE: This is a randomized, controlled, multicenter study. Physicians from each participating center are sorted into pairs according to their rate of providing advice to quit smoking to identified adult smokers and the number of identified adult smokers seen in the 3-month baseline observation period. Each physician in the pair is then randomized to 1 of 2 arms.
Physicians receive a survey at the end of 2-year period regarding the usefulness of each aspect of the feedback reports and the feedback program in general.
A questionnaire about tobacco-cessation services in primary care is sent to patients of all physicians within two weeks of each patient's primary care visit and then at the end of the first year of providing feedback to physicians to compare patient report of tobacco-cessation services with what is documented in the electronic medical record for that primary care visit.
PROJECTED ACCRUAL: At least 40 primary care physicians per participating center and 1,000 patients (250 per participating center) will be accrued for this study.
DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:
Primary care physician, meeting all of the following criteria:
Patient
PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:
Age
Performance status
Life expectancy
Hematopoietic
Hepatic
Renal
PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:
Biologic therapy
Chemotherapy
Endocrine therapy
Radiotherapy
Surgery