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Randomized controlled trial of general practitioner tutor visit or mailing to encourage general practice‐based education
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
medical education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.776
H-Index - 138
eISSN - 1365-2923
pISSN - 0308-0110
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2923.2001.01026.x
Subject(s) - tutor , general practice , citation , randomized controlled trial , medicine , medical education , family medicine , psychology , library science , pedagogy , computer science , surgery
Objective Evaluation of a general practitioner tutor visit, or mailing, with regard to the amount of practice‐based education occurring in general practices. Design An initial survey of all practices in the Mersey Deanery was undertaken. General practices which replied were randomly allocated to receive a GP tutor visit ( n =38), to receive a mailing ( n =38) or to a control group ( n =36). Visits carried out by tutors covered a loosely agreed format. All practices were sent a follow‐up survey identical to the original one at 6 months after the intervention. Setting General practices in the Mersey Deanery, north‐west England. Subjects General practices which had replied to an initial survey. Results The amount of both specifically arranged and informal practice‐based meetings increased in all groups. No changes were statistically significant. Conclusions This study illustrates the difficulty of assessing educational interventions by randomized controlled trials. Such interventions are often expensive, complex and difficult to standardize. A substantial amount of practice‐based education is taking place.